A Touch of Sunlight
by InariSushi
Summary: Dawn Detroit would never have guessed her already tipsy life would be turned inside-out, but it did. Now it's off to Hogwarts while trying to deal with growing up as an utterly confused witch with a rockstar for an adoptive father and a creep for a crush.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter One**

When Letters are Delivered Off Time…Something is Amiss!

* * *

The leaves fell very gently down on Birch Street. Like rain that was coloured gently of the sunset, they decorated the streets and lawns like confetti. A slight breeze would pick them up and scatter them, and small children enjoying their summer vacations would give chase to these earlier fallen leaves. But the older people of the neighbourhood would always say that the trees knew better than they when autumn was coming, and that all that the people could do is bundle up and take the warning. For those that had lived on the street long enough, they were used to the scene although it was the end of July and some flowers and assorted vegetables were making their way out of the earth. The trees must have known better and perhaps in their own way smiled down at the younger, frivolous plants that chose to bud in that particular week. Many people who took strolls or jogged on the warm sidewalks would stop and admire the leaves, and laugh at the children romping in the piles, which were clearly not their own, while enjoying the display of youth's carefree innocence. Of course, not all could enjoy the early fall of the leaves in July, Dawn Detroit didn't. After all, it was she that had to rake the leaves and keep Jeremy's perfect lawn perfect.

Dawn Detroit was a very thin and boney ten-year old that looked more like a beggar while she raked the leaves than an inhabitant of the area. Her dark red hair was tied in a loose braid that she had tossed over her shoulder for the time being. The braid had already begun to fall out of place; she never did a very good job of braiding or tying up the band. But Dawn didn't notice of course, she was too absorbed in her raking of the leaves and thinking of her treasures in her room in the attic, where she would much rather be than any where else. Her wide, grey eyes scanned the lawn, looking for more leaves to add to her tiny pile. The lawn that sought to place itself pathetically in front of her house was bare of any trees, save for one tiny sapling that hadn't gotten the message from the other trees to buckle up for winter. Though the child's grey eyes that observed this tiny tree were usually bright and glistening, they had dark lines all around that made her eye lids heavy and her face thinner still. It was nearly impossible to take a moment to see that glow of a young girl in them, but it tried to sparkle all the same. One would sympathize on her condition; she hadn't slept a full night in quite some time. Dawn shook a leaf off of her comfy cloth brown boots, and tried to untangle the stray hair that had gotten caught in the zipper of her sweater jacket.

"Oy! Dawn! Are you done raking the leaves yet? They're getting in the way of my tree!" called Jeremy from the house window. "Damn those other trees! Just you wait my darling, maybe not in my life, but one day, you'll tower above them all!"

Dawn looked over to the pitiful form of the little aspen tree that Jeremy was trying to grow in the middle of their bare lawn. "Right," she said smiling softly and poking the spindly plant with the handle of her rake. "A tree…"

Jeremy came back to the window with a cup of tea in his long hands, stirring a few times the previously added milk. "Hey! Don't attack my baby! It still needs to be the root of my creative thoughts!" he called, taking a long gulp of the tea after noticing her prod. Dawn shook her head and Jeremy scowled as she giggled quietly to herself. He took another gulp, finishing the cup dry. Before going for another he called to her, "They will come, you know. Something will come out of those little roots from the bowls of the earth and…bowls. That's a rather crude way of putting it…womb? Nah, that's been done too many times…heart? Innards…perhaps…Well anyway…I have a feeling something is going to happen, you know?" He grinned brightly at Dawn and the tiny tree. "Something amazing!" After some thought, Dawn nodded enthusiastically, making him smile again. "Well, in any case you can vacuum up the living room and main entranceway when you're done out there okay? You haven't vacuumed in at least two days, pet, and Monica is coming over so the place has to look nice, right?"

"I know, I know," Dawn called, waving her rake in the air. "For all this work you think I'd get something out of it!" Jeremy just chuckled and left to the kitchen, calling back,

"That's what I said at the start of my career!"

"I'm not going to make a living raking leaves," Dawn called. "I'd only be able to work one time of the year!" But he had left to the inner halls of the fairly large house, and she could not hear his response. But she could hear the droning of it, so more than likely he had begun talking to himself again. Dawn had actually vacuumed just yesterday for one of his other girlfriends, Elise, but his head was too up in the clouds to notice, she supposed. How many women he went through in a week she had not the slightest idea, but like Jeremy said time and time again,

"It's my life to live, so you just live yours, grow up and get the hell outta here and do what you want to do." But then he had also said… "Don't look at me like that…they told me to say that!" They…the television, the media, the talk groups on single parenting that Jeremy had attended one meeting of and decided to blame it all on them. They had laughed over it for a good while though, and it was still a joke that could pull Jeremy's young face into a grin.

She supposed it was a nice way to think at certain times. Not the getting the hell out part, but the previous part. To just keep going no matter what, living the way you want to live. Dawn kept had those words close to heart, because those were the only ones not repeated by someone else but from Jeremy; the rest was rubbish. But her mind got back to the coming of this new girl, Monica. She could only sigh over her legal guardian at this point; that young man had quite a lot of trouble falling in and out of love.

Dawn had lived with Jeremy for almost two years. There was much to complain about, but since Dawn wasn't one to complain, she didn't and was too grateful for most of the things in her life that she hardly found a reason to complain. She would always tell herself time and time again that it was better than the orphanage that she had lived most of her life in. Anything was better than an orphanage, and she was glad she was one of the lucky children that had found a decent person and a decent sort of life. Life in the orphanage was cold and dark, with only hope to get you through the days when couples would come and look you over. It was hard to face 'failure' and 'abandonment' all over again when they would turn away from you. But then Jeremy came, after eight years of living pretty much alone in that dreary place. He had strolled carelessly into her life but had created such a shock that at times she was still feeling almost light headed about it. It was if he had been a bolt of lightening that came crashing down and had laid waste to everything except Dawn and himself. Some nights Jeremy would laugh one of his hearty laughs over a drink and slap her on the back telling her own story that she knew well enough. It was a story she didn't mind him sharing with others, not that he had asked for her permission ever once before.

"There you were!" he would say. "I just stopped by with Helen, that gal from the coffee shop, to look and see what kind of a place it was. I had walked past there god knows how many times...don't ask him, let me think about it and I'll tell you the exact number. But…ah! What a dump, I thought! And these children, they look like those little street kids you see on television, all moony faced and eyes shining, and when you walk past them they give the most sorrowful and deadened looks. It's a wonder one kind soul didn't bag them then and there and bring them home like _that_!" He said this with a snap of his fingers. "I know I was almost ready to do just that!

"Dawn, you just stood there, staring at the wall where there was this huge bloody hole. Your eyes were the biggest of them all, so it was bloody scary to stare at them, bulging like a bug's. Ha! I'm sorry Dawn," he would say then, ruffling her hair causing whatever that hadn't fallen out to fall out then. "All the kids were staying away from you like you had a disease or something. I asked the lady who looked after you bunch what was wrong with you. She just said that there was an accident and the kids thought you were responsible for it." At this point Jeremy had set down his glass and stood up re-enacting the seen for his audience, how many people were there varied from time to time. The more people usually meant more drink and larger theatrics. "The hole was a big as my head, but do you know what the wall was made out of?" He stopped to build up the suspense for his girlfriends if they were there to hear it. "Concrete! The bloomin'wall was made of concrete! As thick as a telephone post, but there it was. There was no way in hell that a little girl could do something like that, maybe some horribly miserable kid had brought in dynamite or some other fluke of man and nature had occurred, how was I to know for sure?

"Now I came back the next day, and Dawn was still there, but sitting on a bed, right? Her bed that was right by the hole. Nothing had changed, the other kids still kept away from her and starred at me with a little bit of hope in their eyes now, 'cause I had come back right? But those little leeches, sorry if they were your mates pet, I didn't care about them at all! By the end of that day, I had made my mind. I scooped Dawn and took her home with me. After all, to leave her there with no friends, oh that's right…none of them were your mates…to leave her there for who _knows_ how long? That's not very heroic is it?"

Jeremy's girlfriends would laugh and then leave on their date soon after, or Jeremy would send Dawn to her room upstairs while they cuddled and watched a movie on the telly. Dawn didn't care that much for when the other people that had listened asked her questions about her time in the orphanage after Jeremy was done telling them the story. Jeremy usually noticed when she began to feel uncomfortable, and shooed her away or made a joke to change the subject. He knew that Dawn didn't like being reminded of the hole in the wall…though it was him that had brought it up in the first place…the concrete wall. Thinking about it while she raked up the leaves made Dawn speed up her work so she could finish her other chores and hide out in her room for the day. After making a pile and stuffing the golden leaves in a garbage bag and making sure that the little tree could 'breathe', Dawn grabbed a few intact leaves and shoved them into her pocket for when she went back into her room.

Inside Jeremy was in the kitchen, washing his load of the dishes. His chore, he hated the idea of Dawn holding a knife and would practically fling her to the floor if she tried and cut an apple. So the cooking was his job too, although she was always more than happy to help him out and try something. She loved creating things and boiling water, to Jeremy's dismay, fascinated her. He smiled when she came in and Dawn gave him a quiet hello and moved to get the vacuum from the closet.

"Grum-py." sang Jeremy in a sing song voice. Dawn laughed; Jeremy always made her laugh somehow. It was just another thing that made him so lovable and annoying. But then, Dawn liked being happy, and usually was, just not so much that day. Not that one day when Jeremy planned to go out that night when it was such an important night.

From the closet, Dawn managed to pry loose Jeremy's old vacuum. She had to wrestle with some of his fallen down leather coats and boxes filled with the mitts and winter wear, but she managed to tackle the machine and bring it into the living room where she plugged it in and began to suck up all that was in her way.

She hummed while she worked, hoping Jeremy wouldn't hear over the noise of the vacuum. He would have sprung into the living room and began a song with his trusty guitar that always lay somewhere near, making her sing full volume while he pounded away at the chords and 'backed her up'. He always told her that she had a nice voice, and even wanted her to have a part in his album when they started recording in the fall. He told Dawn that they expected it to be completed for New Years or Easter but if he had his way, Halloween day.

"I have your bit right here Dawn, see?" he had said, grinning and showing her incomprehensible music sheets with multiple scribbles and doodles. Dawn just blushed and told him to stop playing jokes on her, which he denied immediately. "You are a great singer Dawn, I should know. I've met a lot of musicians and singers."

Dawn admired Jeremy for wanting to be a famous musician. He wanted to make it to the top of the industry of punk and rock, though he insisted that labels meant nothing to true musicians and that music was music. He had several piercings and an excellent voice to hold him up on the way to success. Jeremy had practised since he was little, and was good enough to get a record deal when he left high school. He had trained and created his art with the best for two years; the two years he had Dawn.

Jeremy finally had his voice heard by the city, which was powerful and deeply mastered. Jeremy had connections and friends that played instruments too. He had girls flocking to him at the little shows he played at lounges and clubs all over London. Jeremy had the attitude and the strength to make it out there in the world of fame. Dawn really believed that. But Jeremy also had Dawn to look after. She didn't mind being left at home for a long time while he went out and came back late in the night. She liked helping him out in anyway she could. Cleaning, trying to start some way of cooking, even singing along with him when he didn't feel motivated. But the truth of the matter was, she was holding him back. A ten year old girl wasn't that easy to look after on the road once Jeremy went abroad on tour with some other bands before the CD was even released. Their schedule made no sense to her and seemed hectic and pushed. That's why Dawn applied for a boarding school to go to while he worked in his career. Jeremy could have more freedom once she had left. He could finally settle down and find a girl that would stay with him through and through. It wouldn't be that hard once he got rolling if the CD was a victory. His room was packed with sheets and sheets of music and lyrics that he came up with, dozens more than what would be on the song. Most he had already gone over with his agent and band members, finding them at odd hours of the day and night and shoving it into their hands and faces and already singing and humming and explaining before they knew what on earth he was talking about. He was so lively and determined, but Dawn was like a water weight. Once she was gone for awhile, he could make things solid. And who knows? Maybe in few years things would be stable and things could continue. She tried not to think of how long that would be; she just knew that she had to get away from him for his own good.

Dawn was so lost in thought that when she got to the hall, she didn't notice right away the envelope that suddenly popped through the mail slot in the door. When she did look at it, the first things she noticed was her name printed in a very fine scrawl. Dawn never got any mail; she didn't know anyone to get mail from besides the orphanage, but why would they send anything? Dawn blinked and suddenly the letter was gone.

"Where did it—?" Dawn asked out loud. She peered at the floor where it had been. There was nothing there, almost as if it had been gobbled up by something. Dawn looked at the vacuum. It was still on.

"Oh no!" Dawn gasped. She yanked the cord out of the wall, almost tearing it in the process. Jeremy had just finished the task of doing the dishes and was coming into the hall with another cup of his favourite tea in hand to see how she was doing. He dropped it on the floor with a shatter when he saw Dawn tearing apart the vacuum and trying to get inside the dust bag.

"What the hell are you doing!" he yelled at her, trying to yank her back from the contraption. "You're destroying my bloody vacuum!"

Dawn struggled away from him. "There's a letter inside!" she told him, finally tearing open the bag and shoving her hand inside.

"A letter?" Jeremy asked, his face contracting into a confused glare. He suddenly swore. "It better not be my schedule that's in there! Get it out right now!" He shoved her towards the bag, making her topple over it and smack into the door.

"I will!" she cried after rubbing her throbbing head. Jeremy couldn't help but let out a meek laugh at the bump that grew steadily on her forehead. She nodded to him as he patted her head and murmured his apologies, all the while looking still at the bag. She rolled her eyes with a smile and began digging deeper into the dust and lint. "It's not yours anyway. It was addressed to me," she said, though her pace didn't slacken.

Jeremy slumped to the ground, disbelief painted all over his face. "A letter." he repeated. "But who would write to _you_?" Dawn snapped her head back and gave him a twitch of the eyebrow, the rest of her face smooth in silent agitation.

"Sorry, sorry." Jeremy murmured putting his hands up in mock defence. "Ill try that again…But _who_ would right to you?"

"That's not any better,"

"Right. I'll drop it then,"

Dawn had her entire slender arm into the bottom of the bag. She felt along the seam and near the top of it. Her fingers would be filthy and Jeremy would probably gag, he had the worst stomach imaginable, which made the more messy chores fall to her. Finally, Dawn felt it. Almost completely folded in the corner of the dust bag was the familiar feel of coarse paper. She pulled it free and brushed off the lint and dirt onto the carpet, receiving a menacing growl from Jeremy for making the carpet dirtier. Dawn hadn't time to care, it was her job anyway. Dawn stared at the beautiful scrawl of ink that formed her name,

_Miss D. Detroit, _

_The Attic_

_622 Birch Street,_

_London._

Jeremy read the envelope over her shoulder, "How do they know you live in the attic?" he asked. Dawn wondered the same thing, but she carefully opened up the envelope slowly, a small smile growing on her quivering lips.

"Hurry, Dawn!" whined Jeremy, jumping like a little kid instead of a twenty year-old man. "Let's see what you got for your sweat!"

Dawn grinned and pulled out a very thick sheet of paper, sort of like parchment. Jeremy gave a long whistle; Dawn was impressed too by its thickness, but even more impressed by more of the beautiful text that looked hand written in ink on the papers inside when she unfolded it and she read it out loud,

"Hog…Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…" she breathed.

"Eh?" Jeremy mouthed.

"From the Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore….and there's some things about where he's from…Order of the Merlin a Mugwump or something…anyway. Dear Miss Detroit, we are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find the enclosed list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July…"

Dawn read the letter over twice. Yes, she was quite sure that the letter was implying that she was a wizard. Sorry, witch. She wasn't sure what it was they were exactly trying to say. The whole "Mugwump" bit was almost funny. Dawn wasn't even sure if this letter was a fake or not. She glanced over her shoulder at Jeremy, the likely suspect to this kind of prank. Before she could open her mouth however, Jeremy snatched the papers from her grimy hands and read them over word by word, sparing no detail from his hungry brown eyes, which were now wild and bright as they shot back and forth in their sockets as he read each line. Jeremy leaned backwards, falling over onto his back with the papers over his face. Dawn's caretaker began to laugh, and laugh. His entire body shook and vibrated like a draw string toy. He had just caught his breath when he finally spoke; his voice littered with fits of laughter and chuckles. Dawn could see glimpses of his cheeks; they were as red as a tomato.

"This, this is amazing!" he cried. "Amazing! Bloody brilliant, I must say. But it all makes sense! It all makes sense..." Jeremy shot forward and grabbed Dawn's dirty hands in his not noticing their state. "The hole in the wall, that time the rug burst into flames when you were trying to clean up the coffee stain, it fits perfectly." Dawn managed to set herself free before Jeremy fell to the floor and continued to laugh hysterically.

Dawn leaned against their door, turning the envelope in her fingers, staring at her name. "It's mad, that's what it is Jeremy. I can't be a witch, or whatever they say I am. It must be a clever joke." Dawn closed her eyes, a smile twitching at the sides of her mouth. She pulled some hair that had gotten caught in her zipper again. "A clever joke." she repeated, but Jeremy flagged an arm in the air, waving the note around.

"None of my mates can write like this. I cant, you can't and no one we bloody well know on this bloody neighbourhood can, so I say it's real. It's real!" He laughed again, "A witch, a witch, Dawn is a witch!" he said in his singing voice. He looked at the papers again. "Oh yes Michael," he gave his friend a rude name afterwards. "It's froggy time for you, old chap." Dawn couldn't help but laugh. If she was a witch, could she really turn people into frogs? Jeremy glared at the papers then, lying now on the dirty carpet. "But where the hell will we find this stuff in London? Adalbert Waffling? Who the bloody hell—?" He was reading over the list of strange supplies. Dawn stumbled to her feet. She grabbed the papers from Jeremy, who vocalized his complaints.

"No, Jeremy! We are not going to look for this rubbish! I won't! This silly Hogpimples or what ever it's called, its rubbish! I signed up for boarding school and that's exactly where I'm going!"

Jeremy sat up and put his face in a hand, staring thoughtfully at the rug and running his other hand's fingers in the lint. "I know you signed up for that boarding school in Surrey," he told her. Dawn was confused, and in her sudden motionless state, Jeremy took the opportunity to snatch back the papers and began reading them again for the third or fourth time. Dawn blinked rapidly. She couldn't believe her ears.

"You...knew? You knew I signed up?" she stuttered glaring at him. Jeremy looked up from under his long dirty blond bangs to peer at her before returning to inspecting the paper.

"Of course, I always know what you're up to, poppet. You entered you application about a month ago, correct? Well, a week ago I got a copy of the acceptance letter, just like you did. Snatched it out of the mail when I saw my name…I told you I'm a clever bloke when I wish it. Of course, you won't be going to any boarding school, even if this Hogwarts place didn't pop out of the blue."

Dawn shook her head; she didn't know Jeremy could be so serious about such things. Of course he cared for her, but he had never bothered to look at her schooling more than once. It was usually just peering over her shoulder while she worked, and then reappearing moments later, creeping up with a paper bag to pop in her ear. Dawn was becoming flustered.

"But...why? Why can't I go?" she said almost wailing. Jeremy looked up from his feverish readings. Seeing the anguish painted on her face, Jeremy let out a long sigh. He slowly brought himself to his feet and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Because you deserve better, Dawn. You don't want to be stuck up in that awful place all year, and neither do I want you to. That place is horrible, despite the icing that they put on their sorry excuses for cakes! I'll tell you here and now, if you think that I would work better while worrying about you while you were in that hell hole of a school, you don't know me as well as I thought you did. Your face says I've found the mine, though Dawn,"

"And you wouldn't worry," she sniffed. "You wouldn't worry if I was in this other boarding school, would you? It's still the same, I'm still away! You're still not there with me,"

Jeremy threw his arms in the air. "Of course I would be worried about you, Dawn! But look at this! This is something amazing, something incredible; I told you something would happen! That putrid mass of bricks in Surrrey is rat shit! Sorry…but you know what I mean! Think of it! You being a witch! All the things you could tell me, all the inspiration, and even more importantly the thought of you being somewhere…" he trailed off now into silence before continuing, "The thought that you might be able to find things there that actually fits who you are. This life…this life in London, it's not for you…you're always looking away from it all,"

Dawn blinked at stared at Jeremy, eyes washing anew with tears. She hadn't realized it then, had she? That he had been watching over her too. That for all his business and all of his worrying, he was truly worrying over the things that mattered, and looking at her, watching her. She was beginning to doubt that there was anyone who knew her better now than Jeremy, even though they had lived together for only two short years. She wiped away the tears and tried to sniff away her sobs. Jeremy's hand wasn't on her shoulder anymore, but the warmth of his hand was still there. He spoke then, voice soft but the excitement crawling back.

"This Hogpimples…just think of the possibilities Dawn! It's like...a, a treasure map or something, just waiting to be found!" Jeremy grinned, shoving the papers into his pocket and moving to the closet to grab his boots.

Dawn sighed. "Not a treasure hunt _again_, Jeremy!" She said, grabbing his arm. Her boots were thrust into her hands now and Jeremy was all grins.

"Oh yes! Just like the time we had to go to that stupid parent teacher meeting and find our way back to the classroom after raiding the locked cafeteria. Or the time we searched for that lost cat that bloke from across town lost—what's his name? But never mind that! Once more we shall journey into the unknown!

"We shall find these treasures that await you, Dawn! We're going to find these supplies and get you on that train come September! And you're going to go to that school, come back, and have warts all over your pretty nose! Just like a proper witch should have!" He laughed at his joke and gave Dawn an awkward one armed hug and shook her around as he beat the air with his hand.

"To the streets of our fair lady, London!"

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Notes!

Hey everyone! Ha ha ha...weakly laughing here for numerous reasons that I'm going to share because I like to ramble. One; This is yet another story that will get me into a hell hole of trouble...Two; Ku-chan is probably smirking and saying to herself "Finally! Took her long enough! More slave, more!" and Three; I think sometimes I say too much.

This story might be considered a companion to "If You Want I'll Keep on Crying" by my lovely friend and brilliant buddy, which are the same persons so don't get confused there. I'm insane, please forgive me. It hasn't come up yet, but by chapter four I believe, Ku-chan's character Raven will be coming in. ; My story dwells mostly on the first year for quite some time, while her's skips ahead...I wish I could do that...but Dawn won't let me! She won't she won't she won't! And Jeremy will eat me if I don't tell of his brilliance so there's no helping me. By the first year though I'd like to skip ahead a little. That'd be nice. Oy! I always make these notes too long! If you've come this far, thank you for reading! Please review if you have a chance!

-INARI


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Potters are Wizards…Who Knew?

* * *

Dawn stood in the centre of the busy street, alone. Jeremy had completely abandoned her in the last bookstore they had tackled, searching for her texts. He had left her behind when he saw one of his ex-girlfriends come in to look at the magazines. She needed to talk to him again about giving her a fair warning, or at least a quick word about where they would meet up again.

The day had dragged on horrible, and her feet ached from walking around so much after Jeremy and now trying to find him. Dawn had gotten nothing from her toils of receiving odd looks from the clerks when she asked them for The Standard Book of Spells(Grade One_) _by Miranda Goshawk. Dawn was beginning to doubt all over again that the letter was a hoax. The way Jeremy had been going on in such a wild manner, he would soon be arrested for disturbing the peace and if he wasn't caught, he would still spend the whole night searching until the stores were closed in his face. But his enthusiasm often brought out Dawn's own vigour, so she searched still for books stores and markets where she might get a pewter cauldron while they were together. For the question still poked her in the back of her head: "What if it was all true?"

Deciding she had nothing better to do now that she had left the third bookstore, Dawn began to wander the streets. She was bound to pass Jeremy once or twice, whether he saw her or not. She was convinced that even if they did pass each other, he wouldn't see her, so it would be best just to walk around and wait for him to notice she was gone. Dawn smiled nervously as she glanced at a street sign that she didn't recognize. She was, once again, hopelessly lost. She had the tendency to wander around with her nose of the ground in case anything interesting happened to pass by. Or she would spot a store that looked promising and when she emerged from it with nothing to show, she had no idea where on earth she had come from. However, so not to let her spirits waver, she went to a small café. She had a bit of change on her, enough to buy some juice from their counters.

Inside, she read over the list of items on the wall behind the counter, soon telling an elderly lady that she wasn't really in line. As she skimmed the many juices and teas, she thought of Jeremy's speech on treasure hunting back at the house. They did raid the cafeteria, which was supposed to be closed, and Jeremy paid the price by getting a stomach ache after eating too many bags of potato chips from the vending machines. The cat, they had never found, though it did turn up in their area. Dawn swallowed when she remembered that it was found run over by a car. All of Jeremy's treasure hunts ended hopelessly in retreat or when he lost interest. Hopefully they found each other again before he lost interest.

The lady at the counter called her over and she took her small juice that she had ordered to go. Exiting the store, Dawn decided to look over the list again. The list told them that the students needed uniforms, so they'd need to find someone that would be willing to make black witch robes. There were lists of books that were required, but nothing she could recall hearing about from anywhere. She needed a kit for making potions, and scales and a telescope for some reason or another. A hat was required, and that was easy enough to come by if it was in the Halloween season, but what of a wand? Would a stick do? And there was also the funny little note about how they could bring a pet…but it wasn't to be something as normal as a dog, but an owl or a rat or a cat or a toad. There was also a quizzical note about first years such as Dawn weren't able to get a broom. Well…they had brooms a plenty in London, but again…not what was required most likely. But how could the wizards and witches of Hogwarts tell if a broom was good or bad? She sighed and sighed and sighed, choking on her juice as she did so. At the bottom of the paper, scrawled in what looked like another person's handwriting, was:

_All items may be purchased at Diagon Alley._ Dawn read this over. Diagon Alley? She had never heard of such a place in London before. Perhaps if she asked around she could find out its location. If it existed.

"Excuse me sir," she said walking up to an elderly man sweeping the front of his fruit stall. "Do you happen to have directions to Diagon Alley?"

"What? What in blazes? There's no street like that around here, not sure if there's even one in London for that matter, girl." He scratched he head thoughtfully. "You're not playing a trick on me are you now?" Dawn shook her head sadly.

"Rather," she said with a sad smile. "I think someone's pulling a trick on me. Thank you sir." He waved to her as she left.

Dawn paced the street. Like Jeremy, she tended to pace when she had nothing to do or lots on her mind. The man had worked on the street for a very long time, Dawn knew this for Jeremy told her how to recognize such people. They had a certain feeling, he had told her. And this man certainly did seem confident with what he told her. Since she assumed the man had worked in these boisterous streets for so long, possibly going down London with all of his fruits and jams, then he must know the city very well. Even the old streets that were renamed as the years went by. She supposed for the average citizen it wasn't that difficult. But with Dawn and remembering directions, not even a compass could help her. She had always assumed that when she learned to drive things would make sense. But did witches drive cars?

Dawn was then convinced. Diagon Alley did not exist, and neither did Hogwarts. It was all a trick set up, possibly by one of Jeremy's band mates, who knew how frantically he would search for something interesting. Dawn decided to turn around and find Jeremy to settle the matter once and for all. She almost did so, but stopped short when she heard someone talking excitedly as they went by her.

"I was thinking about getting an owl, Dad. I mean, crows are so annoying, and cats just don't suit me. But an owl! It could deliver our mail from home to Hogwarts, when I arrive there. And it could be my owl, you know? I wouldn't have to use one of the crusty old ones you have at the office…sorry. But what do you think? I've looked over the kinds in that book Grandpa lent me, so—"

The speaker was a boy Dawn's age with very messy hair, which he continued to ruffle and make even scruffier. He was taller than Dawn, but that was expected, she wasn't the tallest of people. The boy kept going on and on about the things his new owl could do, his brown eyes lit up as he spoke. A man very similar looking to the boy chuckled and agreed with him completely. "Once we get to Diagon Alley, we can visit Eeylops, the Owl Emporium and get your precious owl, James. But really, we should get your other supplies first alright?"

"But then a really good one might be gone by then!"

"We'll see, we'll see." his father chuckled.

Dawn could not believe her ears. These people, they were going to go to Diagon Alley? Thoughts flooded her from the back of her head that poked her mind roughly as the two spoke. Maybe it did exist; maybe Hogwarts was real as well! She had to be sure. Dawn spun around, desperately trying to keep her eye on the father and son, and try to find Jeremy at the same time. He was nowhere to be found, and the other two were slowly disappearing into the crowd and out of Dawn's sight. Exasperated, Dawn ran over to the two that had spoken of the alley.

"Excuse me!" Dawn called out, reaching awkwardly to tap the man on the shoulder. His son turned to see her, startled as his father was who also turned around. The man smiled kindly.

"Can you help me?" Dawn said breathlessly. The father then frowned a bit, and leaned down to his son, saying quietly, but not quiet enough because Dawn caught it,

"Muggle. I'll handle this one." He rose, face all smiles to gaze down at Dawn. "Yes, young lady?" he said politely.

"Urm," Dawn said, trying to find to right words. "I'm looking for Diagon Alley, uh..." she produced the supply list and handed it to the man. "I don't know where to look and my fath-...friend is lost so... so I thought..." She stumbled at the word and wondered yet again why it was so awkward for not only her but also Jeremy to call the two of them father and daughter? But she knew slightly…it was because he was so very young compared to most of those that had adopted children. He was only eighteen when he had signed those papers determinedly. No one could stop him one he had his mind set on something, and the orphanage seemed almost glad to be rid of her. The place must have lost a lot of tension once she had left. The boy's face lit up suddenly from its previous reproachful glare.

"You're going to Hogwarts too?" he asked. Dawn nodded. The boy frowned. "But you don't know where Diagon Alley is? That's odd." His father put a hand on his son's shoulder and handed Dawn her list.

"Quiet, James. Young lady," he said looking down to Dawn. "You don't know where the Alley is, so perhaps you're saying you were raised by muggles? Muggle born?"

"Muggers? No I—" Dawn said. "Wait...muggles? What are—?"

"It's what we wizards call non-magic folk." The man replied gently.

"Oh."

"If you need help, we can take you to the Diagon Alley." the man said. "If you'll come this way," he said gesturing for her to follow them.

"Come on!" James said enthusiastically while he turned away after taking hold of her hand.

"But," started Dawn. "Jeremy, my...fa…father. He—!" Dawn started, just as Jeremy popped into sight in front of them

"There you are!" he cried, spotting her above the crowd. He ran over making James and his father stop. Jeremy took hold of Dawn's other hand, ignoring the other two for the moment and that the one hand he did not hold was attached to someone else.

"You shouldn't run off like that and leave me behind!" he said wiping off the perspiration with his free hand. "I was looking for you for near an hour!"

"You left me." Dawn replied. She noticed that James hadn't bothered to remove his hand, but was staring at Jeremy with an honest fascination. It was reasonable; the jewellery that dangled off of Jeremy's face sparkled in the sunlight and although there seemed hardly any room left on his ears for more, it was the truth to say that he might look even better with a bit more silver. Jeremy then noticed Dawn's companions staring at them, being polite and staying quiet while he started babbling about how it wasn't his fault, how she was a tiny girl and her pattern of travel was so erratic she's make the perfect rabbit…or something of that sort. He stopped of course when he saw the wizard and his son staring at him.

"Hello!" Jeremy said brightly giving up Dawn's hand to shake the hand of James's father. He didn't seem to realize why they were there, but when in doubt, he always introduced himself. "Collins; musician." Jeremy said, with a huge grin on his youthful face.

"Potter; wizard." James's father replied with a sly smile. Jeremy brightened up even more and his mouth became livid with a smile while his lip piercing gleamed to James's amusement.

"Really? Fantastic! You don't look much different from us folk. You'll have to forgive me because I wanted something grander and maybe a wizard that had more of a beard but…oh sorry, I don't mean to offend!"

Mr. Potter seemed not at all offended and laughed even, "Oh none taken! You're one of the first men I've seen to actually be so enthusiastic about wizards,"

"Really? But I can't tell you how grateful we are to find _somebody_! You don't know how long we've been looking for all of Dawn's supplies this day," Jeremy's shoulders shrugged heavily and he ran a hand through his hair. "All bloody day and no one can sell us a cauldron!"

"They're in Diagon Alley," explained Dawn.

"Dragon Alley?" asked Jeremy.

"No, D-i-a-g-o-n Alley." Dawn corrected. James laughed from beside her.

"I take it you're the girl's father then?" Mr. Potter asked Jeremy. The younger man blushed furiously at the word 'father'. Dawn glanced with a sigh at the perfect display of how touchy Jeremy was with the whole father-daughter connection people saw in them. To her it was more like he was her brother. Ten years apart, it was more than likely. Jeremy was fingering his jacket hem and glancing at Dawn worriedly.

"Well, a-adoptive father, I guess, but Dawn's more like a little sister to me." he explained. Dawn smiled slightly; so he thought the same too then. Mr. Potter tilted his head to the side and smiled thoughtfully. James looked as if he wanted to say something to Dawn and Jeremy, but his father gave him a look that meant something such as: 'this isn't the time; grownup talk'.

"Do you need help getting to Diagon Alley?" asked Mr. Potter, for formality it seemed because he had already offered to help Dawn. "We're on our way there now. I'm sure James wouldn't mind the company of another student starting out in Hogwarts."

"Brilliant!" Jeremy cried out enthusiastically, making a few heads turn in their direction. Dawn bowed her head nervously at the attention but smiled. She felt the same way, and was glad she had met wizards as friendly as the Potters. Jeremy was thanking Potter as if words weren't enough to describe his gratitude. With Jeremy's powerful emotions, this too was more than likely.

"You don't know what troubles we've been to trying to sort out this whole magic-wizard-witch thing that came our way. Completely out of the blue. But imagine! She's a witch, and you're a wizard! It's brilliant!"

He continued on like this as they began to head down the curving streets of London. Jeremy and Mr. Potter talked over many things. Mr. Potter explaining the best he could as they travelled, and seeming not to mind Jeremy's interruptions with a flurry of questions. "And owls? They deliver mail, do they?"

"Oh yes, quite often, though they may be delivered by other means of magic."

"Magic! Yes! But what about brooms, do you really travel on them to get to places?"

"Well, not often as you might think. I would think most young wizards and witches would try and use their brooms for Quidditch."

"Really? What's that then?"

While Mr. Potter began to explain the rules of a sporting game that Dawn was only half interested in at the moment for many of the words made little sense, they found themselves before a tiny pub called the Leaky Cauldron. Jeremy laughed at the name, but wasn't so sure about entering when he thought of Dawn and James, only children after all. "Don't worry, we're on business only," assured Mr. Potter. Dawn looked over to James, who gave her a wink.

"Only magic people know what it really is, muggles think it's just another pub." the boy explained. "Sometimes people can't see it either, because of the spells. But Dad made it so you guys will notice it, right?" His father smiled.

"It is kind of blurry." said Jeremy rubbing his eyes. "Or maybe I'm getting old."

Dawn sighed, "Your twenty Jeremy; that's not old."

Mr. Potter laughed, "So young?" he said to himself, then ushered them inside.

It was a dreary dark sort of place, and Dawn was glad they only had to stay for a short while as James's father talked to the barman. Dawn had the distinct feeling that people were staring at her. The room was quiet and dirty as she looked around. She half expected a raven to caw in an instant after she thought she spotted a mouse scurry across the floor. The people blended in well with the interior, and looked as if they had been apart of a grand haunted house. One of the women sitting in a corner with some other women gave her a wave and a grin, and Dawn smiled back. At least they were friendly. She heard them mutter about Hogwarts first years and that was all. The other ladies turned to see her and waved also. Jeremy was suddenly beside her again, murmuring to himself and nodding to a man sitting at the table close to them.

"What a wonderfully dreary place," he whispered to Dawn. "It makes me want to rewrite that one song I wrote about a bar...completely new angel," he glanced over to the ladies in the corner, who were leaning in to see him better. He winked at them and turned back to Mr. Potter who was waiting for them. Dawn saw the woman begin talking in hushed voices; one was giggling. James and Dawn looked at each other and shrugged. Grown ups were strange, in both the magic and non-magic world.

Mr. Potter led them through the back door and into a tiny walled in courtyard, with only a single grubby dustbin by a wall to add anything to the flurry of weeds. James and his father walked together with Jeremy and Dawn very close behind. Mr. Potter took out a slender stick from his jacket. Jeremy nudged Dawn,

"That's his wand." he informed her happily. "Brilliant, isn't it?" Dawn smiled and watched with Jeremy the wizard's actions.

Mr. Potter was counting the bricks, his lips moving silently as he pointed at them one by one as he counted with his wand. "...and two across..." he said finally. He tapped the brick three times and stepped back. He turned to Jeremy. "If you would step back a moment there, Mr. Collins. You'll see well if you're back here with the children. You might keep your nose too." Jeremy had been leaning forward, trying to figure out what the other man had done.

Jeremy smiled one of his 'I-couldn't-help-myself' smiles and joined the children.

The wall seemed to bend and morph. The brick slowly quivered then began disappearing while the other bricks moved around like puzzle pieces, making the opening bigger and bigger. They stopped and revealed a large archway. The archway was big enough for even the largest or tallest of people, and opened up to a brighter world, which began with a cobbled street twisting in and out of Dawn's gaze.

Dawn was quite impressed, Jeremy could tell by the grin on her face. She twisted and played with her hands behind her back, a habit of hers when she was happy. Mr. Potter began to hurry them inside, but James let out a laugh and grabbed Dawn's hand from behind her back once more, pulling her into the light of the doorway.

Diagon Alley was magical, more magical then Dawn had imagined, even though she didn't know what to expect since it was her first contact with the magic filled world. Strange how it now seemed so near to her home, but it was to be sure that even James found the place to be rewarding in its sights, and incredible in its splendour. The streets were lined with small sloping shops, each shop unlike the one beside it. Children scrambled away from the many parents and others gathered in the street. They went to peer in the windows at brooms to which they gave their best "ooos" and "ahhhs" for these large polished sticks with fiery bristles at their ends. People were talking about their lives, which seemed to include some sort of wave of lawn gnomes or some sort of other gnome attacking their gardens. Dawn had no idea, but found the thought of little garden gnomes coming to life quite funny.

The parents of these children from the magical world would conduct their sons and daughters into shops, or away from them. Many came out with books, clothes, cauldrons and animals. Dawn smiled and laughed with James as he ran with her to a candy shop and pointed out his favourites. They were just about to go inside and feast on this sugar filled wonders, when Mr. Potter and the bewildered Jeremy came over and took them away.

"Now," said James's father. "Mr. Collins and Dawn need to head off to Gringotts. It seems you don't have any gold, so you must exchange your money for ours, and open up an account there for Dawn."

"Gringotts is a wizard bank, Dawn! Isn't it brilliant!" cried Jeremy, his face flushed with excitement. Dawn grabbed hold of his sleeve; afraid he might bound off and lose her again.

"It should be fine to go by yourselves." Mr. Potter started again. "The goblins are helpful enough although extremely grumpy beyond belief. Unless you want us to accompany you there?" Jeremy thanked him but decided to go off with just Dawn.

"We have to hatch sometime," he said with a grin. "Or we'll never manage to fly without you. Besides, I have a perfect sense of direction, unlike someone I know." He cleared his throat and glanced at Dawn. She just smiled clumsily; she knew the person well.

"Then I leave you with this," Mr. Potter said giving them a name of a shop. "We'll be getting James's owl around four o'clock. If you join us there," he pointed across the street to the same store. "Then we shall perhaps pick out something for James and Dawn, if she was considering an owl."

Dawn nodded; she wondered if they had other animals such as dragons or something to choose from there as well. Dragons would be, as Jeremy would say, brilliant. She and Jeremy headed off, only stopping for a moment when James bounded up, and said to Dawn, "When we get back to that place I was showing you, you should try an Acid Pop! Or one of my favourite Every Flavoured Beans, okay?" Dawn wasn't sure what those were, but hopefully the name didn't imply anything about the flavours.

When Jeremy and Dawn arrived at Gringotts, which was a looming place that looked unlike the banks in London. It was white and towered over the other shops scattered around it, the bronze doors as tall as some of the shop roof tops. A strange man in a red and gold, stood at the entrance. Jeremy stared for a moment, but then collected himself and went inside. Dawn stared longer at the strange man that was a head or two shorter than her. He had a face that seemed to have an air of cleverness floating around it, with a strange pointed goatee and moustache that stuck out of its longish face like sticks. The goblin shifted its long feet and hands as it moved to bow and gesture to the door. Dawn's fingers twitched at her sides. She was about to ask the goblin something but Jeremy pulled her inside. Inside was another set of doors, which were silver and had imprinted on them,

Jeremy chuckled as he finished the last two lines, "Thief, you have been warned, beware, of finding more than treasure there...Again, I am inspired by this funny little world in London's backyard." The pair of goblins who waited as they read the engrave, bowed them inside the silver doors. Inside these doors was a huge marble hall with hundreds of goblins sitting on tall stools positioned behind large counters. They were scratching away and talking to other people inside the bank.

"Mr. Potter told us to wait in line," said Jeremy. So they waited behind an assortment of tall and short people with strange clothing that sparkled or rippled with the length or moved like grass where there were fine furs. When they were called up, Jeremy strode confidently forward to the counter desk.

"Yes, what do you need, sir?" asked the weathered old goblin that sat behind the counter. He looked bored and alert at the same time, a face that Dawn wished she could copy. Jeremy put a hand to his head in a salute, but really just so the large lamps overhead didn't affect his vision of the old goblin.

"Hullo!" he said cheerfully. "See, we would like to exchange some money, see, and open up an account for my friend here."

"Friend?' said the goblin disdainfully, leaning forward to look at Dawn.

"Well, erm…daughter," Jeremy corrected himself.

The goblin, "Hmphed", and said lazily, "Name?" Dawn blinked when Jeremy gave her a nudge; he was staring at the floor with a slight smile on his moving lips, as if he was trying to copy the goblin's face as well.

"Oh!" she gasped. "Dawn, Dawn Detroit." she said finally, as if she couldn't find her name in her thoughts.

The goblin turned and shuffled through some papers after opening a cabinet. After awhile, he said. "Detroit, you say? We have a special request from another Detroit, made some ten years ago….leaving the key here for us to look after, was on my shift as well..." The goblin didn't seem pleased, but then, he never seemed to ever seem pleased with anything. "You can't make another account; the request here says that the key here is yours, Miss Detroit. But I'll need some proof..." he waved a hand over to Dawn. "Step forward." he grumbled. "The key is hexed, take it. If it's yours, it shouldn't harm you."

"Urm…what happens if she gets hexed?" Jeremy asked suddenly as the goblin dangled the key before them. The creature gave another noise of disapproval and a small sneer curled on his lips. His shoulder moved slightly into something of an unconcerned shrug, as if this sort of thing happened everyday. Jeremy and Dawn glanced at each other, and then moved their wide fearful eyes to the key. Dawn stared at the tiny golden key the goblin held in his long, hairy fingers. She wasn't sure what was going on, and looking to Jeremy, he didn't know either. Who could have left her something? She hadn't been one of those children that really asked about where she had come from. She had lived in the orphanage for most of her life, and again, was just grateful to get out of there and have Jeremy by her side.

"Well?' the goblin said dangling the key in front of Dawn's nose now. She could almost feel the cool of the metal.

"Dawn, you don't have to, we can just-" started Jeremy, but Dawn had already snatched the key without a second thought, or a first thought, she tried not to think actually. She winced as a slight burning feeling passed through her fingers. The key seemed to twitch, then settle and then cool off. The goblin rolled his eyes as Jeremy let out a long breath that he had been holding in since he gulped at the air when her small hands had made for the key. Dawn smiled up at the goblin, and gave it back to him.

"Now that this is in order, I'll send for another to go to your vault. If you still want to exchange money after, just talk to Knifecut." He called over another goblin who then scrambled over. He led them to a cart down a stone passage and they were off. Jeremy crept down as far as he could to the bottom of the vibrating cart. It jerked and bounced on the tracks, giving Dawn a nervous smile. He looked ill and tried to keep his eyes focused on the blackness of the lids as he had every inch of his face drawn together and wrenched shut.

"We'll be fine, wont we Mr. Knifecut?" called Dawn to the front of the cart, trying to ignore the strangeness and violence that somehow was attached to the name.

The goblin turned its head around and said, "Hmph."

Meanwhile, Dawn looked down to see Jeremy had recovered somewhat and was mumbling something on the cart bottom. He had now curled up in a ball, his head smashing against the floor once every few seconds. "Jeremy-?" started Dawn, but then rolled her eyes and smiled ahead again when she heard his murmurs.

"If there was any doubt/thought to why/why I'm here/why I fly/ then the answer/The answer to this silly question/that plagues our minds is/ I'm here for life's frantic train ride." Jeremy smiled slightly. "And if Charlie came in with the bass then..." Suddenly the cart lurched to a stop and Jeremy was smashed into the side of the cart. "Drums!" He called out to Dawn as she exited the cart and he struggled to move to his feet, knees shaking horrible and his face very pale. "More drums!" he clutched his heart. "Here comes the bass again..! I need flutes…flutes, ah who do I know that can play the flute? Maestro, come hither! Uhn..."

Soon Dawn was told to give over her key to the goblin Knifecut, which she did so with a slight smile. Jeremy was bouncing around, holding his forehead and looking much better to be on solid ground. Seeing the door before them, the excitement from earlier returned in a heartbeat. "Hurry, hurry, hurry..." he was practically singing. Knifecut's growl silenced him. After Knifecut examined the key, he put it in its hole and turned the lock on vault 513. Knifecut gave Dawn back her key after opening the door and holding it open for her and Jeremy. Jeremy had let out a small gasp that almost turned into a yelp, had he not caught his breath, when a brilliant golden light sprung into the stone tunnels. The torchlight danced around them, and slowly Dawn crept inside, with Jeremy close behind her, mouth gaping as hers was at they stared with wonder of the things on the floor.

Inside the dreary carved out stone vault, was a single pile of small pieces of gold, some silver and copper. Dawn blinked at it and smiled, "Pretty,"

"What the bloody hell—?" Jeremy squinted. He crept over, Dawn close to his side to peer at the small pile of gold sitting in the middle of the floor. The goblin waited, silent and drawling, outside. Jeremy turned to the creature.

"What is that?" Jeremy said.

The goblin wrinkled its face further. "What does it look like? It's your stores, your wizarding money."

Jeremy gaped at him. "But with all that shimmer and light, I thought—I thought!"

The goblin sighed, "Greedy humans," it mumbled.

Jeremy stared at the pile, "Well then...uh," Dawn looked up at him,

"Were you expecting something else?" she smiled. Jeremy threw his hands in the air.

"Oh I don't know...YES! With all that mumbo jumbo sparkle, you could at least be like filthy rich or something! Why I dot my hopes up to sing 'Gold's Blood' on a supposed to be momentous occasion I have no idea!" He walked around the room, muttering to himself about how wizards were fools and cheapskates. "What ever other Detroit left this is pulling my leg!" He roared. "Leaving your poor child with this little pile of shit!!" The last word echoed around the room for awhile and Jeremy looked far from apologetic. "Well I know how wonderful this girl is! I know how much she deserves!!"

Dawn smiled apologetically to the goblin. "Um, how much is this all worth, in muggle money?" she asked. The goblin looked over the pile.

"Seven thousand pounds maybe?" the goblin shrugged. Jeremy stopped his stomping and whipped around.

"Really?" he said. The goblin shrugged. "But that's…my god I could tune up the Bug very nice now couldn't I? Well that's not too bad…not bad at all…invest that a little…now there was that one pair of boots with the copper chain links that cost—" he glanced at Dawn's slightly reproachful glare and gave a huge sigh. "Oh come off it Dawn! I'm joking! Honestly! You look like someone told you on the blower that your parents were muggers or something! Be glad that they're wizards,"

"Maybe…but maybe one of them was muggle," Dawn pointed out. "After all…I was put into an orphanage in London, and not some magical community…"

"True…" Jeremy sighed.

Knifecut spoke up again, tired of being held about while they talked over what he considered utter nonsense. "Not much here of course, but that's all there is, though I don't know what's in the envelope…it could have something of value. We inspect such things but I wasn't the one who looked it over…"

Jeremy bounded over to the pile once more and suddenly snatched up a small envelope Dawn had just noticed to be balanced neatly on top of the pile. He ripped it open as Dawn protested, "Jeremy, that could be for me!"

"It has MY name on it," Jeremy said feverishly.

Dawn blinked; "Really?" the man nodded and read the contents.

He sat next to the pile of gold while Dawn and goblin watched him. Jeremy wrinkled his brow and gripped his hair in mild frustration. He started mumbling to himself and shook his head from side to side. "What is it?" Dawn asked him, kneeling beside him. Jeremy glanced up, face crestfallen.

"Well urm...it's...uh..." Jeremy tried to begin. Then shook his head and shoved the letter into his pocket. "Nothing, I'll tell you later, okay?" He looked to the pile and put on his grin again, "Well, shall we shove our pockets then?"

* * *

Notes!

I love Jeremy...honestly. He's so much fun to write about...sigh. I never know what he's goint to do...it just sort of happens. Ha ha...in the next chapter...but ah, you'll see that when it comes. Ku-chan would notice the changes I made in this chapter I think...she better. Nah I'm kidding. James in my head is so damn cute when he's little. He's really awful in Kumori's story, "If You Want I'll Keep on Crying"...but that's just because he's in THAT age. Yeah...for now he's a wittle cutie pue. But he hasn't met Raven yet...well...only time will tell. This chapter was long too...long for me at least. Lots of dialogue though, and that takes up space because of formatting. Eh..whatever. Thanks for reading! Review if you can!

-INARI


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Three**

A Wand, A Prat, and the Silver Tape

* * *

"Who could have left you that, I wonder?" Jeremy said out loud as Dawn gave her pocket money to a goblin and exchanged it for Knuts (the little bronze pieces) and Sickles(the sliver ones. The gold was called Galleons). Dawn took her new wizard money and stuffed it in her pockets. Her purse had been filled with as much as it could hold, and Jeremy had exchanged a bit of his own and had some Galleons in his pockets. Dawn had tried to offer some of her small riches to him, but he declined. "It wouldn't be noble. Or brilliant for that matter," he had replied as they left the vault, the goblin looking even more grumpy than when they had first met him, but then they had made him wait quite awhile. Jeremy had just grinned at him and looked ready to hug the sad creature, but Dawn had held fast to his arm, saving the goblin from more agony.

Presently, Dawn stared at Jeremy, who had happened to have stuffed the mysterious letter farther into his jacket where she couldn't reach it. Not that she would try, but the curiosity was almost maddening. He had promised to tell her later, but then again…still. The innocent face accompanied with the innocent smile twitched at her brain slightly. She hated it when Jeremy hid things from her. But Dawn shook her head then as they left Gringotts and decided to humour him a bit,

. "I don't know," she said smiling sadly. "I wish I knew. Maybe it was my mother and father, or another relative."

Jeremy smiled almost sadly down at her. "Whoever it was loved you, pet, that we can be sure of." Dawn smiled and hugged him. Jeremy allowed this for a moment but then brushed her off his face a funny shade of red, he brushed himself off, fumbling as he said, "Stop it now, don't start now after all these years!" he exclaimed dramatically. "It's too much for an aging fart like me!" and looked about him as if he was afraid the immense crowd of witches and wizards had spotted him doing something terrible odd. Not that Jeremy had worry about him doing anything not odd. He turned to a shop called Madam Malkin's, Robes for All Occasions, and threw his arms in the air.

"Let us pick out your pretty robes, before you make me feel old again!"

Dawn laughed, "You'll never be old!" she laughed. "Not with the way you're acting!"

Madam Malkin flew to the door as they entered, a tiny bell ringing above their heads. She was wearing a fine dress like robe that was a shade of purple that Jeremy would never remember the name of even is Dawn told him a million times over. She hurried Dawn over to a stool before the girl could say anything at all.

"Hogwarts I assume," she said with a curt nod, pins sticking out of her teeth. "Hm, yes, I'll go get the fabric." and was off. Dawn stood there, trying to regain her balance on the stool, while Jeremy laughed into a hand and walked around the shop staring at the wizarding world's fashion and staring intently at a pair of boots.

"Dragon hide eh? Oh ho ho ho…" he smiled to himself and resumed wandering close to the walls, letting Madam Malkin do what she would when she returned in another flurry and looked ready to knock every stand and pile over.

"This won't do..." Madam Malkin mumbled, suddenly beside Dawn. She threw some dark fabric over her head. She began pulling at the cloth almost angrilly. "You're so skinny, my dear. Whatever does your father feed you?

"Oh you know, they eat everything in sight and it somehow disappears like magic." called Jeremy from the window. He looked over his shoulder to gaze at them with a beaming face, giving Dawn and Madam Malkin one of his best smiles. Madam Malkin turned and blushed when she saw Jeremy, so much younger than she had suspected him to be, or appeared to be or maybe it was just because he was handsome enough for her to become unnerved. Nonetheless she found it hard to settle back down again to her task. Another pair of customers soon came in the shop to be fitted, so she was given something else to think about. Dawn sighed; Jeremy seemed to not notice the affect he had on many ladies, unless he sought to notice that is. She turned to the mirror and saw the robe she wore. It looked like a tall curtain thrown over a stick.

A thin woman had entered with her son. They were pale, silveryblond and slender. The boy held a slight sneer on his lips, from what Dawn could see in the mirror as she watched them curiously. The woman seemed haughty as she told Madam Malkin to fit her son with the best for Hogwarts. Ignoring the fact that Dawn believed that all of the uniforms were to be the same regardless, Dawn brightened when she heard the school being mentioned. She realised that this boy must be from Hogwarts, and hopefully in the same year as her.

The boy walked lazily over to the stool beside her and stepped on it gracefully. He seemed willowy and strong, while she was all jerky and stickyouty. He glanced over to her with his pale blue eyes, and raised a pale eyebrow at the robes. Dawn looked down to her robes as Madam Malkin came and threw fabric over the pale boy's head.

"Watch it!" he suddenly snarled at the woman, "You're messing up my hair!"

Dawn didn't know what to think then, she glanced at Jeremy who had been watching also since the newcomers arrived. He gave a shrug with a quizzical look on his face, not knowing what he would do either in the situation. But then, if he was beside the pale boy and a child as well, Dawn was quite sure Jeremy would smack the other child for being so snooty. Jeremy wasn't one to care about his hair; he only cared for his clothing. Dawn stared out the window, and noticed some older girls, around fifteen or so staring up at Jeremy and giggling and blushing. Jeremy followed her gaze, and saw the young woman outside. They nearly squealed when he smiled at them and one of them was gesturing that he come outside to where they were. Jeremy, not seeing the harm in it left Dawn, alone, once more.

Alone again, Dawn tried to concentrate at her reflection in the mirror, finding that if she looked at herself in a certain way, the mounds of fabric making her arms and back heavy, was actually quite funny. So she smiled and waited for Madam Malkin to return to her own robes.

The boy had been glaring at his mother, finding her also staring at Jeremy while he was outside talking to the witches. The boy sneered at his mother, and turned to Dawn. "Do you know that man?" he asked her, his voice sounding important and not unknowing of its harshness. Dawn smiled a little despite the slice of his words, her fingers twitching as she looked at the boy's reflection in the mirror. Before she could answer, the boy drawled on again. "In my opinion such buffoons should try and not attract attention. He's seems to be a muggle, or is acting like one... the way he stares and moons over everything." he sighed, holding his arms up for Madam Malkin as she adjusted the length of the robe so it wouldn't trail. Dawn wasn't feeling too happy then,

"Well if he enjoys it, I don't see what the harm is in staring. I stare at things all the time, and find out quite a bit because of it," she replied quietly, trying to make it look like she was looking at her own reflection instead of the boy's. His face was so finely shaped, that he looked as if he should have been chiselled out of the smoothest of marble. But the boy's expression changed after he was don listening to her with what it seemed to be with only one of his ears, and he looked like he would cough up something vile.

"Oh?" he said without interest at all in his voice. "Such as?" And this he said as if he wanted her to prove the most unbelievable thing in existence. Dawn thought for a moment.

"People always seem to return to things that make them happy. I've watched the same old man come out of his house and look at a nest of birds and sit under a huge oak tree down the lane by our own house. Each year the parents, or their children perhaps, come and raise their families there. He must've seen generations of birds pass on and be born, for he goes there every day no matter what the weather, and just sits there. He's happy there, so no one bothers him." She turned and smiled at the boy. "It seems simple enough, but I think we all know how hard happiness is to come by. But I want to find a place like that too someday. If I hadn't watched people find their own place, I wouldn't have thought to look for my own."

The boy said nothing and stared at her for a moment before turning back to glare at himself in the mirror. After his robes were completed( while Dawn was ignored), Madam Malkin was gathering up her creations and handing them, wrapped up in packaging paper, to the boy's mother. She called her son to the door as she left, but the pale boy ignored his mother and turned to Dawn, eyes glittering almost evilly. He introduced himself then, as suddenly as he had thrown words of his displeasure on Jeremy.

"I'm Lucius Malfoy." he said with an air of importance. "Of course you've heard of the Malfoys. And you are...?"

Dawn smiled at him nervously, she had not heard of the Malfoys before, and thought she was once again missing out on something very important that just might be needed in surviving her upcoming year at Hogwarts...should she truly be able to go. Finding Diagon Alley had boosted the morale of Jeremy and herself, but still the question plagued her, the one that Jeremy had brought up...would she belong there like she hadn't belonged in London? She then answered Lucius after a few moments. She had also seen an impatient Jeremy enter the store, and taking one look at the sneer on the boy's face Jeremy's own face fell into his most irritated grimace. "My name's Dawn Detroit." she finally said.

The boy sneered slightly. "Detroit? Not heard of them...but then you look like someone hardly memorable. Well Detroit, I'll see you in school then. I hope you some redeeming qualities that won't get you thrown into being a Hufflepuff; you don't look like you could stand anymore embarrassment." he glanced over to Jeremy who waved at the boy with a piqued smile on his lips. When he turned away, Jeremy promptly stuck out his pierced tongue at Lucius's back.

The boy had returned to his mother soon after without a word of farewell, and Madam Malkin returned to Dawn and her robes. When they were nearly completed, and Jeremy, feeling edgy still from the meeting of the Malfoys, came over to see what was taking so long. When he came very close to them, Madam Malkin hurriedly pushed him away, her face extremely red.

"Sir! You'll distract her!" she protested, though Dawn felt sure that the only one being distracted was Madam Malkin. When Madam Malkin gathered up Dawn's robes and took them to the counter, Dawn passed Jeremy some coins so he could try paying himself. He seemed so eager to do something that Dawn couldn't deny him the chance to see how red Madam Malkin's face could get when she took the coins, and the slightest bit of their hands brushed against one another. Dawn balanced on the stool while the ordeal went about, and stared at her reflection. It had a confused smile on the lips, almost a grimace. Her hands twitched slightly as she played with them, thinking of the cruel boy's lovely face. Dawn tilted her head thoughtfully, and asked her reflection,

"What's a Hufflepuff?"

"What a bloody prat!" exclaimed Jeremy as soon as Dawn finished telling the tale to him of the pale boy, Lucius Malfoy. They were walking down to Ollivander's (Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C). Another infatuated witch, had told Jeremy where to find a wand for Dawn, because as soon as they had left Jeremy decided that they just had to go buy something exciting instead of boring like her robes. Plus, he had seen a cloth bound stick jutting out from Lucius's mother's bag of school supplies, so they were sure to not meet them there. Jeremy had bounded off with Dawn in hand out of the previous store, excited to finally see a wand up close. After seeing only momentarily, Mr. Potter's own wand, Jeremyhad been fixated on what Dawn's wand might look like. He wanted to know if they were all wood, and what made them magical and what happened to them when they broke?

"Will the ultimate chaos of the heavens be brought down upon the world for the breaking of a magical instrument?!" he called to the sky above before being hushed by an embarrassed Dawn. She however thought it would be better to get things that were closer to last store they went into. Therefore, before they had trudged to Ollivander's, they had picked up all of her books and other supplies such as the cauldron they had been looking for all after noon and a shiny pair of scales. They would circle around to the Emporium after getting her wand, Dawn suggested. Jeremy had frowned at Dawn then as they made their way to the wand shop.

"You just want to go the long way so you'll remember the way back," She looked sheepishly onto the ground and didn't say anything different. Of course it was true...she wanted to remember every inch of Diagon Alley. What if she needed to come back? Or what if James or Mr. Potter referred to some place when they met up again and she was unable to reply? It was better this way. Jeremy, interrupting Dawn's thoughts as always, had then thrown his arms in the air and yelled, to Dawn's amusement and embarrassment, at the top of his lungs:

"Curse you, unknown parents of this scatterbrained child!" Many witches and wizards with their children had scuttled away from them after that or smiled and pointed and chuckled. Both had Dawn whirling away with Jeremy's hand in her own.

Now near to the store and getting back to Jeremy's comment on the young Malfoy, Dawn was frowning thoughtfully at her cauldron and the books she had placed inside of it. She agreed with Jeremy in some ways about Lucius Malfoy, but...

"Well," Dawn said. "He wasn't very kind, but I wish I could have captured him." she let out a sigh and swung her cauldron back and forth, almost hitting a small child in the head if not for his mother saving him by dragging him away. Jeremy gave a frown also.

"I don't care how pretty you thought he would look when you 'captured' him, a prat is a prat!" Jeremy took out a big black marker from his pocket and grinned evilly. "Next time I see him, I'm going to write 'prat' on his pretty brow." Usually the pen was for writing notes on his arms when he had no paper, but he had in the past before attacked his band mates and had written on them various things Dawn thought it was better not to understand.

Dawn laughed, "I don't think he'll like that." she replied.

Jeremy grinned. "Here's hoping he won't."

Dawn and Jeremy had to walk down the winding street, to the very last shop, which was rather shabby and old, and happened to be the wand maker's place. The peeling gold letters which bore the name and logo of the shop, Ollivander's, were almost as shabby as the dusty windows where a single wand that lay on a purple cushion, looking dusty and ill kept.

Jeremy raised his eyebrows. "It makes me feel old." he said tiredly, putting a hand to his chest.

"Then be old." Dawn replied opening the door and hearing the twinkling of bells overhead. Jeremy looked at the peeling letters and reached up to pull a bit of the gold paint off from over the door. He examined the little peeling and was about to reach for another one, when a voice strained to be heard.

"I'd rather you not wreck my shop." Jeremy gave a yelp upon hearing the voice and looked slightly down to fully see the speaker's face. An old man looked up at him with huge eyes that could match Dawn's in a contest. The eyes were pale and bright, and stared at Jeremy, with out blinking in clear amusement. Dawn was smiling beside the man. Jeremy was holding his chest above his heart, breathing hard.

Dawn told the man, "Jeremy can be very jumpy,"

The man smiled. "As we all can be, in these darkening times." He gestured to the door. "This young lady and I were waiting inside for you, but when you attacked my lettering, well, I had to intervene. I know it is falling apart...but it's not helping it to pull it off, yes?"

Inside, Jeremy looked around in wonder; the place was almost as interesting as the Apothecary, where he and Dawn had gathered Potion supplies. But Ollivander's smelled musty instead of toxic. The small shop was packed to the very ceilings on all walls, and in some other parts of the room, with long slender boxes. The old man looked around his shop with a fatherly admiration. He offered Jeremy the only chair for customers to sit on, but Jeremy disinclined and stared around the shop, mumbling. The old man looked at Jeremy quizzically,

"Pardon?" the man asked. "Did you say something, I couldn't quite—"

"With this box in hand/ look to the sky and say with your heart/I love you/ In these boxes are my feelings for you/ trapped/ ready to break free and fly without wings/ to whisper to you/ of all the things/ I keep inside of me/...No no no...urm...uh...perhaps wing beats then? But then the 'without' part...brooms?" Dawn shoved Jeremy at the chair, apologizing for Jeremy's sudden mutterings, which continued as Dawn sighed at him. "There should be a soft twinkling that should be heard at the beginning and the end...one, two, three, one, two, three..." Dawn shook her head and turned back to Mr. Ollivander. He was watching Jeremy with a smile, eyes softened. But he turned to Dawn with a blink and gestured to the walls and began the speech he said to nearly everyone that entered his shop, as most were young ones like Dawn.

"In this room, we shall find you a wand. A wand that you shall hopefully never have to replace. It shall be a part of you, a tool and a friend. You wont choose one on your own of course, and neither shall I," Mr, Ollivander pulled a box out of its stack and put it on another stack across the shop. "Because you know, Miss Dawn...Detroit is it now? It is the wand that chooses the wizard, or the witch." Dawn wasn't sure how he knew her name, but it seemed right that he should know. "Now, first off we should take some basic measurements." he was saying. Mr. Ollivander pulled out a silver measuring tape and turned back to the stacks, looking for a specific wand. Dawn watched as the measuring tape began, without Mr. Ollivander even close to it, measure Dawn.

It had begun to measure Dawn's ears, when Jeremy snuck up to them and tried to snatch it. He had been watching it all the while, mesmerized almost like a cat when faced with such things. The measuring tape seemed to slink away in the air like a snake, and Jeremy gave chase. He ran around the shop, nearly hitting the stack of boxes closest to him each time. Dawn watched him flail around trying to catch the magical tool until Mr. Ollivander came up to her, pale eyes smiling. "Now, here's one. Give it a wave." Dawn opened the box up and pulled out a beautiful wand. "Holly." the wand maker was saying. "Six inches. Unicorn hair." Dawn gave it a flick, and nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander frowned. "Hm," he grabbed back the wand and handed Dawn another, and another and another.

"Birch, ten inches, heartstring."

"Oak, seven inches, unicorn hair."

"Mahogany, eight inches, this one's adaptable..."

Nothing seemed to respond to Dawn at all, and Mr. Ollivander seemed angry, more at the wands then himself. Jeremy was still running around, this time with the tape measure chasing him, when Mr. Ollivander reached for a box at the very bottom of a stack.

"This old thing, I was fond of it once a long time ago…but it never took a liking to anyone, they all held it wrong..." he handed it to her. She reluctantly gave it a wave, and red and gold sparks flew from the tip and plummeted to the floor like hail. Mr. Ollivander gave a hearty laugh, and Dawn smiled too in wonder. She stared at the wand, running her hands over it, feeling every groove in the wood and every design in the simple handle. Jeremy turned to see what the ruckus was about with the sparkle that the corner of his eyes caught, and was caught instead by the tape measure. It began to tie him up as the wand maker spoke. "Twelve inches, quite long for your hands, but it seems to fit. Yew, its supple yet firm. Rather soft feeling it has, doesn't it? Very old, hasn't come across one it's liked, like I said. But you seem to have perhaps, gentle enough hands to wield its touchy personality. A very young dragon's heart string makes the core, the problem of its stubbornness I'm afraid, well, it likes you regardless,"

Dawn held her wand gently; it felt warm in her finger tips. She didn't question him about how he knew all of this of the wand, and why or how it could like or dislike things. She wouldn't question an artist or a writer about the feel of their brushes and pens after all. Dawn had a soft smile rested on her lips as she stared at the wand. Mr. Ollivander looked pleased until his gaze came across Jeremy, bound head to toe in the silver measuring tape.

"That will do!" Mr. Ollivander said, exasperated. The tape went limp and Dawn was able to help Jeremy get up out of the tangle. Although his face was flushed and hair was a mess, Jeremy had a huge grin.

"Quite a lot of life in that one," he said nodding to the sagging tape on the floor. "Bloody well the most brilliant thing that's happened yet. Is that your wand? Can I see?" Jeremy fiddled with the wand while Dawn payed for it with seven galleons directly to Mr. Ollivander. He smiled and handed her a cloth to wrap it in.

"Don't put it in you back pocket now, young miss. Don't know how many wizards have foolishly done that. I remember every wand and person I've ever sold to, so I should know." He turned to Jeremy who was dancing around trying to make the wand do something for him. "And good day to you as well sir," Ollivander said.

"Show me a bit or sparkle/baby/give me another reason/" Jeremy was muttering.

"He means well, really," Dawn smiled, and took Jeremy's hand again and moved to the door as quickly as she could before he knocked anything else over. But she stopped suddenly at the door and turned back to gaze at the older man. Dawn looked up to the pale eyes that watched her almost carefully from across the room. "Sir...you said, every person?" she asked. "Then, do perhaps any one with the name Detroit that ever came here, Mr. Ollivander." The man looked at her, face emotionless. Dawn's hands gripped her wand tightly. "Sir?" she said again. But Jeremy had regained his senses as he gazed out the window watching something of interest. He dashed over to her and grabbed her hand.

"Thank you very much sir! But we must be off." He said with a wave. Dawn tried to speak, but Jeremy shushed her. "Hurry!" he cried. "I see Potter and his son outside!"

* * *

Notes!

Wheee! Another chapter! It's fun thinking of chapter titles...yes indeed. I can't stop smiling over Jeremy...I wonder if anyone else likes him as well?? Dawn's a cutiepie...though when I write of her I get frustrated over her personality sometimes...if I was there in the same situation where Lucius said all of those things about Jeremy...I'd shove him right off the stool and hope he cracks his thick skull on the bloody mirror!! I also think that sometimes I might be acting like Jeremy if I went into Diagon Alley...everyone would think I was crazy, but oh the wonderous wonders!! I want to be a witch...sigh.

-INARI


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own fDawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, Micky, Steve and Charlie oh right and Monica, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Four**

Back Home, Life Goes On

* * *

Dawn had scolded Jeremy for dragging her out of Ollivander's as they briskly walked towards the Potters. She couldn't help but think she lost some valuable information about her past. If Ollivander knew any other Detroits, perhaps it could lead to her meeting some of her unknown family. She had never really considered the past while, or who her real parents might be. Not really anyway. When in the orphanage as a younger child, it was always a guessing game of who your mother or father was. Presidents, super heroes, and war heroes were always common guesses of the young orphan. Dawn had wished that her father and mother were famous painters in Venice, and had let her drift away in a basket accidentally and had no idea how to find her in London, because they couldn't speak English. Later on she realized how silly that was, because there was no way she could have survived the journey, and perhaps not even made the journey by river. When she had begun to live with Jeremy, she didn't care anymore. It was better to be with someone that would love you, then ever hope to meet the ones who abandoned you in the first place. But now, her parents might have been a witch and wizard, and who knows what sort of circumstances made them give her up, or lose her or leave her for...dead. Her curiosity had sprung up again, and then brutally played with by Jeremy's dynamic personality. He had read that letter! And still although it was later, it was not the later that he referred to; it was not the time and she knew nothing. Ollivander might've been able to help her bypass that mountain. Now the opportunity was gone until she went to his shop again. And that seemed unlikely for Jeremy was never one to go anywhere without drive or a need.

"Oi!" Jeremy called up as they neared the Potters. Jeremy let go of Dawn's hand so he could catch up. Startled, Dawn accidentally lost her balance with nothing to guide her, and crashed into another girl that stepped in front of Dawn, merely trying to get by. The girl brushed herself off and asked Dawn if she was alright as they both toppled to the ground and had to right themselves again.

"Yes, thanks, and you?" Dawn asked.

The girl smiled and nodded, "Fine. But I really must be going, I cant let my parents wonder off by themselves."

Dawn grinned, "Same here,"

They parted. Dawn watched the girl bound up to two confused, but happy looking persons. She grabbed their hands and steered them towards the Apothecary. Dawn suddenly wished she had thought up a reason to stay with the girl a bit longer. She had startling green eyes.

"Dawn!" someone called. Dawn turned to see James running up with a bag of something.

It shook it in her face and grinned mischievously. "Remember?" he asked. "The candies I showed you. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to go back to the shop so I convinced Dad to go and get some while I was being fitted in Madam Malkin's. I got to see, Sirius again! Haven't seen him in a long time—Oh he's a friend; I'll introduce you two sometime. Anyway, want to try some?" The bag said Berite Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. Dawn was fascinated, so she took a handful. "Try that funny yellow one," James said eagerly. Dawn had just finished a pale white one that tasted like snow, and finding the candies incredible and interesting in every way (every flavour, what are the limits when there are none on the title?), she reached for his suggestion. About to pop it in her mouth she was intervened by Jeremy, who snatched it up and popped it into his mouth instead, saying,

"I love candy. Mmm, and this is—" Jeremy began to choke. Then gag. And then his cheeks flushed with a sort of funny green tone. Jeremy's eyes watered as he looked around. Seeing a waste bin he ran over and began to vomit promptly inside of it. He had reached so far into the basket that his stance threatened to waver and prevent him from staying on the ground. James's was laughing so hard on the ground he couldn't breathe. Mr. Potter drew him up and scolded him severely, having rushed over at the sight of seeing his son offer dawn the little candy bean.

"James!" he said, with an icy voice. "I know you've recorded what almost every bean flavours is and what they look like. If I ever hear of you tricking a poor innocent into trying one of those vomit flavoured beans, I shall cut off you allowance and not send you a broom in you second year!" James looked downcast, and slumped over to apologize to Jeremy, who was wiping his face now, looking like he could go for another round of walking about without keeling over too soon. He smiled after James had made his solemn apologies however, and pointed to Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Let's," he cleared his throat. "Carry on!" James's was apologizing again, thinking that it hadn't sunk into the man's mind. After all, he had just fed him a vomit flavoured bean which he had almost fed to Dawn. Still Jeremy brushed it off. "Never mind," he said with a wobbly grin. "Probably would have done the same thing to myself, if I wasn't myself. Did you really record every flavour? Send me a list sometimes, those things sound bloody fantastic. Do you have apple pie? I love apple pie...!"

Jeremy left with the Potters from the store after a long hour, waiting for Dawn to finish selecting her own owl in the darkness of the shop filled with the shining eyes of the owls and night creatures housed inside. James was stroking, through his large cage, the great grey owl his father had purchased for him as an early birthday gift. The huge face stared at him solemnly, sizing up his new caretaker and friend. It then burrowed its large face and glittering yellow eyes under its wing and went to sleep.

"I'll call him Shadow." James said.

Jeremy frowned. "That's boring," he said, clearly displeased with the name. James looked over and gave the young man a frown. "What I mean is," said Jeremy, adjusting his lip ring so that it wasn't caught in a strand of his long bangs. "You should pick something special, different...Hmmm, how about Penumbra? It's one of the names of my songs." James looked like he had no idea what on earth Jeremy was talking about either way, so the man continued. "No it's not some non-magic folk thing! A penumbra is the slightly lighted part of a shadow, like when the earth casts a slight shadow on the moon during fan eclipse. Interesting, eh? Just feel the word roll over your lips, ha! Brilliant..." James considered this and then agreed. Jeremy grinned, "Just think how smart you'll look when no one else knows what it means."

Mr. Potter laughed with his son. James's father looked at Jeremy in a strange way, and spoke softly when he said to the young man: "You're quite informed for a young man that has set out to be a musician. Forgive me if I sound rude, it's just from what I've observed over the course of my life, is that most musicians tend to ignore their schooling, absorbing ever inch of them into their music,"

Jeremy smiled, and looked to see Dawn at the door, trying to get it open and hold onto her owl at the same time. The store clerk helped her open it and she bounded over to them, thanking the clerk as she went.

" I know exactly what you are referring to, but...truth be told, Potter," said Jeremy as James rushed to meet Dawn and compare their new pets, "My family wanted me to be a professor and teach literature at Harvard. But I found my calling in the media, and saved my scholarship for something important, like Dawn, if she ever needs it. I finished my basic schooling here, just never went on and after my father's plans for me. The old bloke still can't get over me adopting Dawn...but then, I hardly talk to him, so it doesn't concern me. I made a home with her, and life's been bloody brilliant...jolly good and all that...hmmm," Jeremy trailed off again in his awkward mutterings.

Mr. Potter smiled kindly at the young man beside him, who watched the girl fondly. "You must love her very much, Collins." he said softly. Jeremy scratched his head and blushed,

"I suppose..." he said before mumbling off some other nonsense.

Inside Dawn's cage sat a very beautiful but dusty barn owl. Its large dark eyes peered up at the two children from a heart shaped face. Its cinnamon feathers were a bit ruffled, as the bird looked about her and squinted at the light. The owl looked over to Penumbra, James's great grey owl and hissed quietly at it. The other owl ignored the female and went back to sleep. Perturbed, the barn owl scuffled around in its cage so it didn't have to see the other owl. It instead stared at Dawn, and allowed her to stroke its wings gently.

"What's that on your fingers there, Dawn?" asked James, seeing that when the girl withdrew her hand, a thin silvery substance was on her hands. Dawn felt the texture and replied,

"I think it's a spider's web."

"Gross." James said with a huge grin on his face. The barn owl had just found the spider and had begun to chew on laughed,

"She'll be Cobwebs then." Cobwebs looked up when her name was spoken, and gave a hissing screech of consent, then tucked her head under her wing and fell fast asleep.

Soon after, the four went their separate ways. James had just convinced Dawn to try a Liquorice Wand, which was really just normal candy, and they were eating them when the men told them it was getting late.

"But Dad!" complained James, clutching his owl's cage in one arm and grabbing Dawn with the other. "I was just explaining to her Quidditch and other important stuff!"

"Such as?" Asked Mr, Potter with a smile.

"Like...like...like Chocolate Frogs, and the Wizard cards you can collect and my friends and other stuff that she HAS to know!"

"It can all wait until you see each other on the Hogwart's express." his father replied with a curt smile. "Or in school should you be grouped together. Dawn and Mr. Collins must prepare for her stay there as you and I must do as well. Besides, you mother is making tarts tonight, and Sirius asked if he could come over."

James considered this and nodded. "Sorry, Dawn." he said with a frown. "But we'll meet at the platform, okay? We'll get there early so you can meet everyone alright?" Dawn nodded. Over the course of the remainder of their journeying in Diagon Alley, she had heard a great deal of the wizarding world. It wasn't that much, but she felt as if she was licking the icing off a delicious cake. She still had her doubts, and her fears and her worrying over the whole matter, but perhaps, she thought, as soon as she had felt the wand in her hand; she knew that she wanted to continue her path to Hogwarts. She wanted to feel the familiar warmth of the wand in her hand. She wanted to eat more of the strange foods and see more of the animals that were sure to be magical and intriguing like the owls. She wanted to meet James's friends, and the other witches and wizards that would be her teachers. She had decided, and she was going to Hogwarts. There was so much more to learn as well. James was quite good at explaining things, but tended to stray from the things she thought were important and go to topics that he thought were more worth while, like great wizards of his fancy that she knew nothing of. It was a shame, but she had forgotten to ask him about what a Hufflepuff was, and they had already left, with James promising Jeremy to send him a list of what he knew of the strange candies.

Dawn and Jeremy waved goodbye on the streets back in the non-magical part of London. James and his father disappeared from view as the dun just began to set. Dawn stifled a yawn while Jeremy stretched his arms in the air and gave a huge roar of a yawn.

"Well, we best be off. We have things to look over tomorrow, and see if your ticket arrived and put it somewhere safe, right? Can't get on the train with out it." Dawn walked down the sidewalk behind Jeremy, staring at the masses of clouds and light that faded slowly in the sky. Her hands twitched at their sides again. Dawn opened her mouth to comment on the sky when she crashed into Jeremy, who had suddenly stopped. Dawn held her nose, which was throbbing painfully,

"Ow...Jeremy, why did you—?"

He didn't move, he didn't speak and Dawn was quite sure that for the moment, he had completely stopped breathing. She walked around to see him. He had the most horrified look on his face, his mouth slightly open and eyes wide in some sort of terror and affliction.

"Jeremy?" she asked again. He blinked out of trance and slowly brought his arms to his head, where he quickly began pulling at his hair in exasperation.

"Bloody hell!" he half screamed, half whispered. "Monica!"

Dawn suddenly remembered too Jeremy's date that was supposed to have occurred around six o'clock, around three hours ago form the present time. Dawn started to giggle, then to laugh. She walked down the street clutching her sides with teary eyes.

"Stop it!" he called after her angrily. "Do you know how bloody gorgeous she was? Do you, Dawn?!" Dawn kept laughing and walking down the sidewalk, of course hardly knowing where she was going. Jeremy didn't let her turn down the wrong street, but he was complaining and moaning all the while as they walked.. The moon began to peek out of the clouds and the shop keepers drew up their stores against the night. She hardly heard anything Jeremy was saying as they went, for she was laughing still.

"Are you listening to me, Dawn?!"

The next few weeks before the first of September, Dawn had received her ticket for the Hogwart's Express, the train she would take to her new school. Jeremy insisted that she stay in her room and at least look over some of her books, just to grasp the magical world a bit more. While she as busy with reading things that practically made no sense and trying her best to care for Cobwebs, Jeremy was on the phone constantly, or coming in and out of the house. His agent had come in looking for him most of the time, while Jeremy was out looking for his agent. Dawn had to assume that they didn't see each other often, no matter how hard they seemed to search the streets and house and studio. Jeremy and the rest of his band mates would come over to the house as well. They practised in the basement and wrote lyrics and music in the living room. When Dawn needed a break, or felt lonely, she would visit them when they were around. Jeremy had said nothing to his friends about Hogwarts or her being a witch of course. Mr. Potter had warned them about not letting others in on the biggest secret kept hidden to most of the non-magical world. But even if he had not advised Jeremy against telling his friends the secret, Jeremy wouldn't have told a soul. He had a strong sense of valour, and felt that it was something his friends couldn't ever handle or something he would wish to share with them regardless of the secrecy because he loved secrets being kept to himself to chuckle over. Besides...they had other things to worry about as well.

'AbraCadaver', Jeremy's band had gotten quite popular. They were booked up in many lounges and small concert halls to the very day before they went on tour, the same day Dawn was leaving for Hogwarts. Jeremy had complained frequently to their agent that he wanted the day before the start of September off, but the plans had been made too far back to cancel then. Outraged, Jeremy confined himself in his room with a thermos of tea before his friends convinced him to come out and perform that very night. Dawn went to many of these concerts, as many as she could get into. She loved Jeremy's music, mostly because it was Jeremy and his friends that had made it and because Jeremy sung, but everything else about it seemed to fit together too. Jeremy forbade her to even try to get into one of the lounges when she asked to go to those that weren't for her age group (not that the lyrics were very age appropriate at times). He said she just wasn't old enough, or some other grownup excuse that Dawn found tiresome.

"Just stay with Cobbles tonight, pet. I'll be back around three in the morning."

"It's Cobwebs, Jeremy." Dawn sighed for the hundredth time.

"Right." he said, giving her an awkward pat on the head after trying to give her a hug goodbye and setting off with instructions of keeping the house together.

On this night before Dawn headed off to Hogwarts, she sat in her room packing up her things in a very large trunk. It had been Jeremy's previous, and had a very wide range of stickers and stamps on it, as well as one of Jeremy's favourite sayings: "Explain to me why I'm crazy and you're not, then I'll get back to you about last night."

Dawn let out a small sigh and took Cobwebs out of her cage and let her fly around the large room for while before she went to bed. Jeremy had left some time ago, and wasn't to return from the concert hall until three in the morning or so and sometimes later if his band mates convinced him to stay out until sunrise. But Jeremy had promised Dawn that he would try and be awake enough to properly drive in the morning, and so he promised again to be back as soon as possible. Dawn looked around her now empty room. All it had left was her furniture and bedding. She had packed every supply she had from her desk into her trunk, and found she still had room to fit more inside. She wasn't a packrat, and she didn't have many things, although Jeremy would try and go out of his way to get her presents if she allowed it .Usually though he was just replacing her supplies from time to time, or giving her something larger to work with. Dawn sighed, wishing that she could sneak Jeremy into Hogwarts so she wouldn't be too lonely. But Jeremy hated being cramped up in small places, saying his chains and peircings always got caught on something or another...and that was besides the point. Non-magical folk…muggles as they had been named by the witches and wizards, were not to go to Hogwarts...how could they learn? But Dawn's thoughts loomed over the act that she would not be seeing Jeremy for quite some time. They had been near inseparable since the day he had scooped her out of the orphanage and taken her home like a puppy.

When Dawn had met Jeremy, she was quite taken to him. He stood out from almost everyone that came to the orphanage. Perhaps it was because he was fresh out of high school when he had made the adoption rather than being a troubled man looking to become a father, but it was much more than that. Jeremy had never thought of being a father, Dawn gathered, he simply wanted to get her away from that horrible place. Jeremy was tall and strong boned. His face was slightly pale, but held a young child's blush on the cheeks whenever he got excited, which was often. His sandy blond hair had undergone many haircuts and colourings, before he had decided to stay with his natural hair colour, and he was pierced all over his face. His lips held a lip ring, which connected to a chain attached to a ring on his left eyebrow. His left ear was pierced the most; at least five or six times, and all the rings and buttons and clothes pins that he stuck inside himself would be connected with more chains when he was, as he called it, "in full uniform". Dawn would marvel at how he managed to move about or talk at all at times, but he seemed to do everything with the ease as one that was made out of feathers. Jeremy also was a clothes fanatic. He collected and designed his own clothes and took them off to be made by surprised tailors of costume stores, saying that his hands were for writing and music playing, not sewing. That didn't stop him from attacking what clothes he bought however. Jeremy would buy a brand new pair of jeans, and then sit in the living room, mauling them with razors and scissors. The same went for his shirts as well. Most of his clothes were just for show, the ones he would wear to concerts and showings were he sang at the microphone or attacked his battered guitar with a flurry of fingers.

His other band mates were pierced and tattooed as well, and had at times been attacked by Jeremy's scissors when he could bear it no more to look at their plain attire. They were less showy in their appearances, but Jeremy was different from them completely in his drive. While they would sit around the couch, demanding that they have a break and relax with a bottle of beer, Jeremy would still work and work, or take a break on his own time while they worked and he somehow became distracted, and would visit Dawn up in her room as she would attack her own hobbies with as much, or maybe even more, vigour.

Dawn leaned f her bed and smiled, remembering the first time she met the band mates. There was Steve, the drummer, who was bald and dressed in scratched up suits and had ties around his neck and sleeves and shoved into his pockets in case something happened to the previously mentioned. There was Michael, or Micky as his friends called him, who had more tattoos then all of them put together. Micky's fingers weren't as fast on his bass as Jeremy was on his guitar, but they managed to work this to their advantage in their songs. Dawn wasn't exactly sure how they did it really without their fingers snapping off, but they did. Dawn wasn't a music person when she chose to be, only on the request of Jeremy wanting her to sing with them so she admired Jeremy and Micky's work with awe. The last member was Charlie, the other guitarist that did the guitar work and sometimes the piano when Jeremy was busy at the microphone. He was the most recent member to the group as well, when Jeremy decided that they needed another guitarist. Steve and Micky had made fun of Charlie when they learned he played the piano. But he had shown them up right away with Jeremy's own piano. The chords that he crashed together boomed like its very own opera orchestra as he played with a flurry of fingers that rivalled Micky's digits on the bass. Jeremy was enraptured in Charlie's work and had practically forced the man to join their crew. Charlie had laughed, Jeremy told Dawn later, and he said that he had already planned to if he was allowed.

They all knew each other very well, as Steve and Micky and Jeremy had gone to high school together and Jeremy had met Charlie at his part time job when Dawn first arrived into his home. Most of them were now attending college or university. Jeremy was the only one who worked part time at a corner store, and full time on their band, 'AbraCadaver'

The Reformers, as they jokingly called themselves because that was what the band would have been named, were always in and out of the house. They would invite themselves in and sit around, talking on Jeremy's phone and writing lyrics with him when Jeremy was on his breaks or eating the food before Jeremy came back from work if Dawn was there to let them in. His friends had been aghast when they came the first day to find a little eight year old Dawn sitting nervously in the living room. At first they had thought she was actually Jeremy's long lost daughter, but he had straightened them out with a few blows to the head. At first they were as awkward with her as she was with the three of them, but then in time they loosened up around them and realized that Jeremy was just being Jeremy, and that Dawn wasn't so bad. She stayed out of the way after all and did nothing to upset them or seek attention constantly like they thought she would, being an orphanage child. All in all they got a long pretty well, and Dawn was labelled the treasured, 'first fan' of the group. There time together was not without troubles of course.

One day, Steve had pulled out a cigarette along with Micky, and started to smoke while Dawn was in the living room with them. Jeremy had walked in on them carrying some drinks, but seeing the lit cigarettes in hand, he shoved the tray at Dawn and grabbed his friends by the ear and threw them outside. While they sat on the steps, clutching their torn ears, Jeremy threw their still lit cigarettes onto the porch with them. One had landed on the knee of Micky, who yelled and tried to put it out, getting small burn on his leg and fingers,

"Oi! Jeremy!" he had yelled at Jeremy, who stood in the door frame, glaring daggers at them. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you?" yelled Jeremy back, Dawn had hid behind him as he had been holding her with one arm protectively as if he could breathe in all of the smoke overhead before it got into her tiny lungs. "Smoking kills, Micky, and its disgusting. How are you going to back me up with your lungs shot, huh?"

Steve had started to complain also, "You didn't have to throw us out like that, mate," he said as he rose, stomping on his cigarette.

"Maybe not," Jeremy agreed. "But while you're in my house, in my yard, by Dawn and my tree..." he had recently planted the seedling and it had barely sprouted, "...You won't smoke. Go kill your lungs somewhere else, alright?" The band mates never smoked near Dawn again or Jeremy for that matter. Jeremy soon forbade them from drinking too much there as well, not that Jeremy seemed to have a problem with drinking in general.

"Wine, is brilliant," he told Dawn one day. "But too much can turn many into dull and violent men. So better save it for something special, like Christmas." But then he and smiled and poured himself another glass. "Or to congratulate yourself for a job well done." Dawn wasn't sure what he was congratulating that day, but she was sure it was something silly.

Cobwebs was softly chewing on Dawn's braid, poking it and shaking it like the mouse she had killed a few hours ago in the first moments of night. It was nearly one in the morning, and Dawn had already fallen asleep. Unable to get her master's attention, Cobwebs flew out the open window and disappeared into the night sky.

When Jeremy came home around five in the morning, he immediately collapsed on the couch. "Why must tea exist in de-caf?" he asked out loud, moaning as he turned around to face the ceiling. "Ow," his chain protruding from his eyebrow had caught on the pillow again. "If they weren't so bloody brilliant, I'd have to complain." he mumbled. He began to switch off the remaining lights and make sure the house was locked up tight, although Dawn had done it all already before she headed upstairs. He pulled himself up the stairs with a pot of tea, a bag of sugar and the last carton of cream. When he got to the top, he looked up to the attic latch and saw it open, with a faint light shimmering down onto him. He set down his tea making supplies on his workroom desk and climbed up the ladder to the attic. Jeremy slowly poked his head to look around. Cobwebs had returned and was glaring at him while chewing on the bits of tail from her last mouse. Jeremy shuddered and looked to Dawn's bed, and found it empty. Instead she was lying on the cold floor, breathing deeply in sleep. Jeremy slowly crept into the attic and bent down beside the girl. He took a gloved finger and poked her cheek gently. Then he tugged on her ear just as carefully. Dawn turned over, murmuring something Jeremy couldn't understand. He stood and smiled down on her, before picking her up and placing her inside the bed.

Jeremy knelt down beside the bed and tucked her under the covers. He propped up his elbow and leaning on it, stared at the wall and the rising and falling of her chest as she slept.

"You're too light and light hearted, Dawn," he sighed. "Do you still mourn as you 'capture' things?" He brushed as bit of matted hair away from her face, and took a deep breath. "To punish you for being sad," he declared while whispering it to Cobwebs, who stared at him intently. "I'm waking you up with my friend, Mr. Frying Pan and Miss Spoon."

* * *

Notes!

I love Jeremy's band mates...I haven't talked much about them, but I love em all the same. Yup. I love Cobwebs as well...silly bird. I always was found of barn owls...snow ones are nice though too. Nothing much happened here...just remembered Monica...huh...I wonder what happened to her? There was no mention of her in this chapter...oh well. She's most likely long gone if Jeremy hasn't done anything about her... Next chapter we go to King's Cross!! I take forver to get places in my stories...because I just want to say so much...Remember to read "If You Want I'll Keep On Crying" by my good friend Ku-chan!! Raven will come in chapter what's this one...four? So that means she'll be there in six! WHOOT!

-INARI


	5. Chapter 5

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Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

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A Touch of Sunlight

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**Chapter Five**

A Most Sour Circumstance of a Meeting

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Of course that's what Jeremy would have like to have done in the morning. In fact, he was quite prepared for it too. He had his trusty frying pan that also was the one he made pancakes on, so it smelled deliciously like fruit and sugar when he took it out of the cupboard. There was also a big metal spoon that had quite a few indents decorating it from being banged atop of the very same frying pan, and being chucked at dogs and cats that would try to go do their business on Jeremy's tree in the yard. Jeremy had also set his alarm, for six o' clock in the morning, one hour after he got home. Because he had to drink his tea and prepare for bed and run around the house trying to catch Cobwebs for twenty minutes, he only got a little more than a half an hour of sleep. But being Jeremy, Jeremy planned ahead. He put all his belongings that he would have to take with him on the tour and lugged Dawn's trunk down to the entranceway while he chased Cobwebs about, and had everything to go when they awoke. But also being Jeremy, things didn't go quite to plan.

Jeremy had set his alarm of course, and upon hearing it, sat straight up in bed and looked around in the growing light for the frying pan and spoon. He sunk to the floor and began to crawl out the door and worm his way up Dawn's ladder, all the while humming his favourite 'James Bond' music. Jeremy had crept up the ladder, barely able to see in the dim light illuminating through the small window. Rubbing his eyes, he adjusted his vision and tried to chase away the sleep. He looked around, his head just peeking over the edge of the hole, his eyebrows inches above Dawn's floor. Jeremy, seeing nothing and hearing nothing, and making sure that Cobwebs was still tied up in Scotch tape, crept over to Dawn's bed.

His chains dangling down from his peircings, slightly clanked against the metal of the frying pan as he stood leering over the bed. He raised the frying pan and spoon, and with a great, "Oi!" he started to madly bang them in the air. He kept banging and banging until finally realising that Dawn had not reacted. But more importantly, Dawn was not in her bed at all. Jeremy stared at the empty and made bed, quite sure that Cobwebs was giving a shrilling hoot of laughter behind him. Jeremy slumped his shoulders in disappointment and then looked around. The room was empty of course; Dawn wasn't hiding in any of the corners. He listened briefly, and then heard the familiar 'swish swish' that had begun not too long ago. Jeremy scolded himself; he should have paid attention to the time more. The sounds would be heard sometimes, ever since Dawn had arrived. Jeremy sighed and collapsed on Dawn's ready made bed, and fell instantly asleep.

After an hour or two, Dawn finally came down from the roof top. She hopped into her room through the open window and found Jeremy on her bed, sleeping with the spoon in his mouth. She smiled at him and almost tried to take the spoon gently from him, but remembered how dirty her hands and arms were. She instead crept as quietly as she could downstairs, and took a shower. On her ticket, it said to be at King's Cross station and on the train by eleven o' clock. They still had lots of time before then, it was only eight o' clock after all. She looked in the fridge and on the counter for something to eat. She made herself some toast along with the peach she snatched from the cold. She had almost burned the toast; she was horrible at cooking and had never gotten the chance with Jeremy to perfect her dwindling skills. As she ate, Dawn went over things in her head, slowly and carefully. Her face was slightly flushed and her eyes were red and puffy, with dark lines underneath, darker than they had been at the start of the summer. Darker than they had been since she heard of Hogwarts. She wiped at them irritably and tried to sort out what a Hufflepuff was. She assumed it was some kind of animal, it had to be. When the boy, Lucius, had said the name, it had sounded like some sort of vermin or rat like creature. She thought that it meant she would be magically turned into an animal, for some sort of trick. But the way Lucius had said the word, almost implied that there were more than one of these Hufflepuffs, more of these people that had been had been spell cast on. Dawn chewed thoughtfully. She thought that this must be some for of 'hazing', the horrible tricks played on new students, Jeremy had explained once before. Dawn didn't want any tricks played on her. Perhaps 'Hufflepuff' was code for how big of a trick was played on you perhaps? If she had to be bullied in such a way, she hoped that a 'Hufflepuff' trick was the smallest of them all.

Up in her room, Jeremy was sleeping quite soundly; he had exhausted himself by merely coming up the ladder and into her attic room. She smiled and brought the extra blanket from the downstairs closet and laid it on top of him because she was unable to pry out the blankets from underneath him. She looked over to Cobwebs, deciding she might have liked to fly around a bit, and gasped when she saw her bird, quite ruffled, and completely bound in Scotch tape. She was burdened down so much with the sticky tape that she had been propped up against the cage and was falling backwards slightly, unable to hold herself up. Dawn rushed over and began the painstaking business of gently unwrapping her. Though no matter how hard she tried, some feathers were lost in the struggle. After she was free, Cobwebs flew over to Jeremy and started furiously pecking him on the head. Dawn managed to pry her owl away from him, but Jeremy had sat up suddenly and stared off into space sleepily.

"Whawuz I doing?" he asked the frying pan he held, spoon tumbling from his mouth.

"Sleeping," Dawn replied from behind him.

"Right then," he said smiling at the frying pan and then fell over onto his side using the frying pan as a pillow.

Dawn crawled over and rested her head on the 'other' pillow that really was a pillow and not a frying pan. Jeremy did not stir as she lay beside him, staring at his back. She felt her eyelids droop and flutter and she couldn't remember a night for the past year when she had had a decent sleep. Cobwebs was trying to get her attention but Dawn shook her off and fell into a comatose like slumber.

Dawn's ears began to shudder and convulse as something crashed about by her face.

"Oi!" screamed a voice in her ear, as the metal banging came, rapidly like the clapping of hands. "Waaaaaaaaaaake up-wake up-wake up-wake up-" went Jeremy without breath.

Dawn went to turn over on her bed, but fell off instead. After smacking her head on the floor, she came to realise she had rolled in her sleep to the very edge of the bed. Jeremy was standing beside her, fully clothed and backpack slung over his shoulder. He was wearing one of his favourite mauled jeans and was decorated in numerous belts on his waist, arms and neck. Some were even strung onto his thighs, and close to the hiking boots he wore. Dawn started to squint to see him better in the bright light that was there, suddenly illuminating from her attic window. Jeremy took this as a drooping of the eyelids and raised his spoon to the frying pan once more. "No, no!" she said. "I'm awake, I'm awake!" she clambered to her feet and looked at the sun. "What time is it...?" she asked with a yawn.

"Ten fifteen." he replied.

"What?" she gasped. "But then–"

"You better get moving because we've gotta go! We've gotta go!" he laughed, and ran downstairs. Dawn quickly scooped up Cobwebs, who was doing a little dance on the floor as she preened herself. They hurried downstairs and out the front door in less then a minute. Jeremy tossed Dawn a key and was already waiting in his little black and red buggy. Dawn thought it was impractical of him to have such a tiny vehicle, but he would laugh at her and shake a finger in her face, "Never underestimate the power of the Punch Buggy."

Dawn looked around, trying to remember if they had packed everything. She always forgot something, while Jeremy always seemed to get everything he needed on his first try.

"Did you pack every single pair of clothes and every single bloody paper you have?" he asked her, leaning out the window. Dawn nodded; buckling her seatbelt and holding on to Cobweb's cage, her trunk and Jeremy's bags were stuffed in the back, jabbing into her seat.

"Then away we goooooooooooo!" screamed Jeremy, and they tore off down the street, speeding away into distance...but only after Jeremy crashed into their mailbox.

At King's Cross, Jeremy gave her a huge one armed hug that he was so famous for when his nerves allowed him to do more than ruffle her hair. He still messed up her hair, all in good humour of course, and said his goodbyes. "Good luck!" he told her scratching his head a little and adjusting the belt on his neck. Many people were looking at him oddly as they hurried to their stations. "Can't tell which folk are yours at first glance," he said looking around and getting a few giggles by some young woman when he glanced at them. "But look for the kooky looking ones. The Potters dressed sort of funny, so be on the lookout. Shouldn't have too much trouble I suspect when you see trolleys filled with slugs and little demons like Cobbles." he looked down to Dawn who was scuffling her feet and pushing the trolley back and forth. Jeremy smiled. "You'll be fine, write to me whenever you can. Tell me loads or I'll never forgive you." Dawn laughed sadly and finally waved goodbye, pushing her trolley off to the platforms. "Just don't send that bloody bird!" he called after her. Dawn gave a wave and disappeared into the crowd.

"Love you too," Jeremy whispered, and walked back to his little car.

Dawn had circled the station at least three times in fifteen minutes. She thought it was nearly impossible to get lost in a straight way station, but somehow, she had managed it. She had not come across James, who had said he'd be early at the platform or even the platform for that matter. The numbers seemed to stop. Seven, eight nine, ten. There was no platform nine and three-quarters as it was displayed on her ticket. She pushed her trolley over to one of the conductors, who were ushering people on board his train with a huge, moustache filled smile.

"Coming aboard, miss?" he asked her politely. Dawn shook her head.

"I'm trying to find my platform," she told him, handing over the ticket for him to inspect.

His face instantly looked troubled,

"I'm afraid that there's no such platform here at King's Cross, perhaps there was a misprint. Where are you heading?"

"To my school, Hogwarts," Dawn said, she was starting to feel panicked.

"Hogwarts? Where is that?" Dawn realised that she had no idea where Hogwarts was at all. The conductor took of his hat and wiped a sweaty brow, "Well I'm sorry miss, but I must be off. Good luck to you, perhaps there's another King's Cross on the other side of London." He boarded the train with the last of the passengers, leaving Dawn alone to watch the train leave the station. Dawn felt her heart squeeze inside of her as she watched the train go. She looked to the big station clock; it was fifteen minutes to eleven o' clock.

'No need to panic,' she told herself firmly, as her hands shook on the cart. She wore a big, shaky smile on her face. 'Just, walk around, count the platforms and you'll find it.'

She didn't find the platform.

'That's alright!' she laughed, trying to reassure herself. 'Yes, it's perfectly normal. Just got to count again, aaaaaand again.' But where platform nine and three quarters should have stood, there was no platform nine and three quarters, or even a trace of directions. Dawn began to feverishly pace the station, back and forth between platform nine and ten.

'There's no platform, there's no platform, there's no platform nine and three quarters!' She finally stopped and took a deep breath and was about to go for another round of pacing and muttering when,

"Out of the way," a voice said from behind her. Dawn turned and stepped aside to let a sour looking and pale faced boy pass by her. He didn't give her a second glance, but Dawn stared at him mournfully as he walked away. He seemed to know where he was going, unlike her.

The boy glanced back to Dawn with his black eyes, and saw her stare at him with a mournful smile. She seemed to be lost, but he didn't have time to care. He had other things to do besides help some silly girl who couldn't find her way around a simple train station. He brushed back a piece of his long black hair behind his ear, and turned his trolley to face the divider. His hands gripped his handle of the trolley, and taking deep breath to calm himself, he began to run head first into the brick wall divider. Just as he was about to collide into the stone, something shot in front of him, and instead of meeting brick, he crashed into the girl.

Dawn wasn't sure what the boy was planning, but she was sure that no person in their right mind would want to collide with a wall. She thought perhaps the boy couldn't see, and was running towards a person that wasn't there. What ever the reason he had, Dawn threw herself in front of his trolley, abandoning her own and getting the full force of the metal and the heavy weight of his trunk.

After the impact, Dawn had been thrown to the floor and lay curled on her side, clutching her ribs. People murmured, speaking of crazy children and their silly ideas, but did not move to help them. The boy had been thrown backwards; his belongings had spilled out everywhere when the trolley was thrown to its side; the wheels still racing on an invisible floor. The boy got to his feet and glanced quickly at the mess. Dawn sat up, clutching her stabbing chest. The boy started to gather his belongings wordlessly, his face tinged with red and mouth thinned out in a grimace. Dawn crawled over to help him, but he rudely pushed her away from him when she tried to reach for one of his books. "I don't need _your_ help!" he hissed at her, eyes bulging from under his bangs.

Dawn rubbed her shoulder where he had pushed her from. "But, it was my fault you—"

"Of course it was your fault!" he spat at her, eyes venomous. He looked over to Cobwebs who was thrashing around in her cage and causing a lot more stares then their collision had produced.

"Filthy little _mudbloods_ like you are always ruining things," he said, snatching a book from her outstretched hands. Dawn looked up from her clutching at her skirt.

"A what?" she asked.

He looked up at her glaring. "_What_, a what?"

"What's a mudblood?" she said. His eyes widened for a bit and turned back to her owl, and then back to glare at her. He looked her over from head to toe. She was wearing the same sort of clothes any London girl would, a sweater and a skirt. He was wearing average London boy clothes, a long sleeved grey shirt and battered jeans, though the jeans were too big and his shirt was too long. There was nothing special about him or her, and yet he seemed to look at her like he was superior in some way. Just as Lucius had, how he regarded her like a king would regard a servant.

"Never mind," the boy was saying. "Just go away. Stupid girl." He stood and grabbed his trolley. Dawn watched wordlessly from the floor as he stuffed his things into his trunk and pushed it away in the trolley, refusing to look back to her. Dawn stood shakily after a moment, feeling a bit confused and saddened. A perfect stranger had just called her stupid after all and the pain in her chest that lessened as she stood still jabbed painfully as she moved. She slowly made her way back to her own trolley, and stroked Cobwebs's ruffled feathers down to clam her. Dawn looked around, realising she still had no idea how to get to platform nine and three quarters. Cobwebs was shrilling softly and shifting her feet as she stood on the bar in her cage. She was looking at something and bobbing her head in the direction of it. Dawn turned and saw a book that had not been gathered by the boy. Dawn walked over, feeling a slight pain in her chest as she bent down to pick it up. She dusted off the dirt from the cover and read the title, printed neatly on it: Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

Dawn's eyes bore into the cover, her mind was boggled and her stomach twisted. The boy was attending Hogwarts. She looked around to the direction he walked in, there was no one who even looked like him where he had gone. She searched the crowds and trains with her eyes, and trotted back to her trolley.

The boy was attending Hogwarts, and she had just let him go.

"He's probably already on the train," she moaned out loud, looking at the clock. She had five minutes to get to the station. She wrung her hands through her hair, eyes starting to twitch with irritation. She rubbed them with clammy fingers. When she drew them back, tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Jeremy was probably in Surrey by now, already on tour and on his way to major cities. There was no way to contact him, what money she had was Sickles, Knutts and Galleons. She doubted that she could even get into London by herself and find Diagon Alley again, let alone get out of the station and head on her way.

"What am I going to do?" she moaned, staring at the sky. "I'll be trapped in here forever and ever. I'll grow old and have to be a beggar woman trying to eat other people's garbage and then finally having to eat Cobwebs when winter comes!" Cobwebs gave a reproachful screech. "I don't even know what a Hufflepuff is." she stuttered, her voice coming out in dry, tearless sobs. She slumped to the ground with her skirt gathered around her and hugged her knees, head buried in her arms.

She was interrupted moments later by a small prod to her side by someone's foot. Dawn looked up to see standing above her with a grimace, the boy from before. He was leaning over her, with his foot still out after bumping it against her to get her attention. She wiped her face, although there were no tears to brush away, and said in a choked voice,

"Y-Yes?"

He sighed and looked to the divider. "You're so stupid." he said. "You keep on saying you can't get to Hogwarts when the entrance to the platform has been within three feet of you the whole while you were wailing away." He stepped back so she could stand up. Cobwebs was spitting at the boy.

"You, you heard me?" Dawn asked, looking confused.

"I was right behind you waiting for you to go away, but I doubt I wasn't the only one to hear you." He pointed to other children and their parents, who embraced and received kisses from each other. The older children would depart, and when a crowd of people were walking in front of Dawn's view, they disappeared when near the divider. She gasped,

"How did they—?" she started, but saw the boy walking away. "Wait!" she called. She ran up to him, dragging her trolley behind her. The boy turned back to glare at her,

"What?' he snapped. Dawn fumbled with her words.

"How did they do that? Where did they go? With the people or—"

"To the platform, _obviously_. I swear, did you grow up under a rock?" he sneered. Dawn didn't answer. "Look," he said pointing to the divider. "Just run into it, alright? You'll end up on the other side, so stop being so stupid,"

"I'm not—" Dawn started but his glare silenced her.

"Go ahead." he said. "You're making both of us late,"

Dawn stared ahead at the brick wall, feeling her stomach twist inside of her.

"No," she shivered. "I'll crash; I'll hit the wall..."

"There is no wall!" he almost screamed in exasperation. He tried to push her towards it, but she escaped and hid behind him. "Stop it!" he sputtered. She shook her head and clutched his arm. "Get off! If you won't go, I'll go on my own! Find someone else to help you!" Dawn didn't say anything, but clutched his arm even harder. "Ow!" he gasped. He looked as if he would hit her; his fist was clenched and his eyes bulged. But the boy just let out a huge sigh, and his shoulders slumped forward. "Let go." he said in a strained but quiet voice. Dawn blinked and let go of his arm. He began to rub it at it, and then stopped himself, regaining his composure.

He stared at the barrier between the platforms thoughtfully, and then snapped his head around to frown at her.

The boy suddenly grabbed her wrist and started to pull her and her trolley along with his own. He glared at the wall and started to run towards it. Dawn's stomach writhed violently from within her and her voice died in fear while trying to give a scream of protest. She closed her eyes and braced herself to crash into the wall, but they never came even close to impact with anything, unless you counted the group of people they bumped into on the other side. They were older than them by a few years, and looked more confident as to where exactly they were. When Dawn regained her balance, they smiled and some laughed a bit,

"First years always have to run at it head first," they chuckled.

"There really is no other way, when you think about it." another said.

Dawn looked around slowly. She smiled foolishly and apologized to the crowd of people in front of them. She looked around behind her and found a mirror image of the wall and ticket booth she and the boy had ran through. Above her was a sign older and more worn out than the ones in King's Cross, and it said in painted letters that this place was Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Relief washed over her and she nearly slumped to the floor from exhaustion. But there was little time, and she wanted to thank the dark haired boy. But she found that there was no hand holding hers any longer and whirling around he was nowhere in sight. The boy had gone.

* * *

Notes!

Ohohohoho...who is this strange boy?? Oh ho ho ho ho! Anyway...this was a fun chapter to write, yes it was. I'm always saying this but Jeremy is awesome, one of my favourite characters by far. Yup. Dawn too made me laugh...I liked it when she started to pace and spaz out and nearly burst into tears. Damn she's annoying sometimes...but I wuv her. Next chapter shall have Raven from "If You Want I'll Keep on Crying"...look forward to it!!

-INARI


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons. But she does not own Raven Green, that is her friend's character. ;)

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Six**

The Mishaps and Mayhem on the Hoggy Express

* * *

Just as magically as the dark haired boy had pulled her through a seemingly real brick wall, he had instantly disappeared. At one instant, Dawn feared that they would violently collide with stone and the next she was standing on a platform with hundreds of people packed into it. They were all running around, hugging each other, some yelling at old rivals and most crying out things to each other over the roar of the crowd,

"Oh we're late!"

"We'll never get a compartment _now_!" Dawn looked up to the huge clock on the lone barrier and ticket booth that had just clicked into the eleven o' clock positions. The sign above it displayed the numbers nine and three quarters. She had arrived at last, but still was unsure.

"Make you way to the ticket booth, or the train master, you can't miss those blokes, they have those old uniforms on and a fake smile." Jeremy had quoted. "Then just get someone to help you with that trunk of yours and load it into one of the carriages of the train. The rest you should be able to figure out on your own. After all, you'll be in the Hogwarts people's hands by then."

The children seemed to be moving towards the large steam engine train that blared out its horn, and gushed out steam from its funnels. She hurried off, dragging her trunk with her and a man helped her load it into the train. With Cobwebs and her trunk, she boarded the train after handing her ticket over to a friendlier man than the one at King's Cross who took it and waved it away with his wand. Dawn went about in search of an empty compartment, or one filled with a friendly faces. Afterwards, she walked down the aisle and curious to why one door was closed, she opened it up a compartment to see if it was empty. Two people were already inside, kissing. "Sorry!' Dawn exclaimed, closing it with a bang. The lovers stared at the door in horror as she sped away, smiling a bit, her mood lightened.

"Kissing is nothing," Jeremy had said one day when she asked him why his old girlfriend was so upset with him kissing another woman on the cheek, who had actually been his close cousin from Ireland. "Kissing is nothing unless there is love behind it. Kissing family, kissing friends, it's all in good humour and a different kind of love is behind it. Not the one she was looking for," He had been referring to his girlfriend, who suddenly came up and slapped him across the face. "A shame, but for now," he had said, rubbing his reddened cheek. "She'll just have to be kept in the dark on such matters." Of course Jeremy would know about that kind of thing. He couldn't count with his fingers how many times he had fallen in love with someone, or how many times it hadn't worked out as planned.

Dawn came up to another apartment, this one with the door open for the moment, and found inside three boys sitting and chatting away. When she poked her head inside, they stopped and looked up to her; one of them was James. He looked surprised for a moment, and then grinned broadly. "Dawn! You made it after all! I waited but you didn't show up. Dad had to leave and insisted that I board the Express." Dawn nodded, Jeremy would have boarded her on the train if James had been a mere two minutes late; he was very impatient in stressful situation's.

One of the boys, who had been lying against the compartment wall, turned around and leaned forward to get a better look at Dawn. He smiled up at her, hands in his head.

"Who's she James?" the boy asked, nodding his head in Dawn's direction.

"Oh, that's Dawn, Sirius, the girl I told you about the other day."

Sirius Black, as James introduced, was one of James's old friends. The boy had smooth black hair that was a bit on the long side, but expertly cut to make it look almost practical for his face. He had grey eyes a bit darker than Dawn's that stared around mischievously. She willingly shook hands with him as James introduced the third boy, who had been flipping through pages of his book before she came in. "This is Remus Lupin. We've just hung out for a bit since we found him wandering around the station. Sirius and I invited him to sit with us, he seemed kind of lonely wandering around like that."

"Like a lone wolf," replied Sirius going back to lean against the compartment wall again. James grinned at Remus, who smiled awkwardly, and shook Dawn's hand, which made her laugh. He had a kind face and sandy brown hair on top of his head, much like Jeremy's except more true of a brown. His almond eyes looked nervous and distant, but lit up when someone would talk to him. Sirius grabbed Remus's book and waved it around from time to time, but giving it back with the same page open. The three boys laughed and smiled, Dawn felt calmer and had liked Sirius and Remus immediately.

"Is it...is it alright if I sit with you three?" Dawn asked nervously, hands fiddling with Cobweb's cage behind her back. James smiled an apology,

"The seats are taken by some other guys who came before even us, sorry Dawn." he told her. Dawn's face cast a sad shadow, but Lupin stepped in.

"I saw some girls in the next compartment or so. It wasn't filled up that much, perhaps you could sit there?" he asked her. He stood up and pointed to a compartment a little ways down from them in the next carriage. Dawn nodded. "Uh...do you need some help with your trunk?" Remus asked her with the same polite manner, stepping aside so she could pass. Dawn shook her head and waved her goodbyes.

"Buh-bye" called Sirius, James laughed.

Dawn dragged Cobwebs down into the next carriage. She had peeked inside the entryway on many compartments, most of which had many people inside, that all seemed familiar with each other, and had no room for her. She knocked sometimes to see if there was room behind closed doors, but again there as none. As the train lurched forward, Dawn stumbled forwards as well, and clutched onto a compartment door to stop her fall.

"Hey, I heard something outside," called a voice from within the compartment.

"People are still boarding, of course you hear thing outside. Probably something just falling down or something," replied another. "Leave it alone." But the door slid open anyway, and with nothing to hold onto, Dawn fell to the floor.

"Oh!" gasped a voice from above. Dawn looked up to see a girl with bright mismatched blue hair and pinkish eyes grinning down at her. "Need a hand?" she asked grinning. Dawn couldn't help but stare at the bright blue locks that tumbled around the other girl's face.

"Yes please," Dawn replied hurriedly, still enthralled with the blue hair. The blue haired girl helped her up and led her inside.

"Do you need help finding your friends or—?" started the girl.

"No, thank you, I just don't have a compartment yet." Dawn replied, looking for Cobwebs's cage. It had rolled off with the owl still inside. She looked up to see a very pretty and willow like girl sitting serenely on the seat beside her. She was holding a ruffled Cobwebs in her cage, who was shrilling and hissing at Dawn in displeasure as she stared at the girl. She said her thanks for the retrieval of her bird.

"You're welcome. If you have nowhere else to go then stay here." The willowy girl said. "There's no one but us, if you don't mind the odd company that seems to have bounded inside."

The blue haired girl laughed, "She mean's herself of course," she said grinning. Dawn smiled then; she had been staring at the girl sitting with her owl. She was trying to remember where she had seen her before, and suddenly slapped a hand in her other hand, remembering.

"I saw you in Diagon Alley!" Dawn exclaimed. The other girl squinted at her, as if trying to place Dawn in a specific container and couldn't remember which one she had come from. But she suddenly smiled and handed Dawn her owl, saying,

"Yes, I was there with my parents in August." the girl's bright leaf green eyes laughed silently at Dawn's pleased face. "I'm surprised you remembered what I looked like, we only just bumped into each other." she said. "I'm Lily Evans by the way."

"It's a talent of mine I suppose...remembering faces," Dawn laughed. "Since I have no other talent in remembering places. I'm Dawn Detroit."

"Bet you would find it hard to remember me," the other girl said, helping Dawn by dragging in her trunk and tucking it under the seat of their compartment.

"Why is that?" Dawn asked her, but stepped back, startled when she looked towards her. The blue haired girl's hair was no longer blue, but turning green, and her eyes had reddened.

"I can change my features,' the girl said. "If I try really hard that is. If I keep practising, I bet I'll master it, but for now, it takes a really long time, and I'll probably have a major headache after this." Dawn frowned and the girl rubbed her forehead a bit. "Oh well, a little early Christmas for us all!" she began to hum 'Jingle Bells'.

"Since she forgot to mention," Said Lily lazily, "I guess I should tell you that the misfit calls herself Tonks." Tonks stuck her tongue at Lily who opened up a book to read instead of sticking her tongue back. Lily reminded Dawn of Remus, and she suddenly wished she could have sat with James. But these girls were friendly and they smiled at Dawn and invited her to sit down, so Dawn obliged. They were friendly, and she guessed that she would rather sit with the girls rather than any of the others. They helped her shove her trunk under the seats with their own and sat down together.

As the train moved along, a smiling dimpled lady with a huge trolley of candies and sweets came up to their compartment at the end, and asked if they wanted anything from her assortment of desserts. Dawn was quick to rise to her feet, as was Tonks, but Lily stayed back, waiting for them to finish and then came once they were done buying their armloads of sweets. She was peering at a box that had a 'chocolate frog' in it, while Tonks was gobbling down her Cauldron Cakes and Dawn was making a huge bubble with her Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. When Lily finally decided to open the package, she was surprised. Tonks started to laugh as the chocolate frog hopped out of the box and around the compartment madly. Lily tried to grab it, and almost succeeded, but not until it had jumped into Dawn's enormous bubble, popping it.

Tonks couldn't stop laughing as Dawn emerged from the sticky goo, with the frog trying to squirm away from the mess of gum in her hair. Lily had a hand over her mouth and was laughing silently, her back shaking as she leaned over the seat. "Let me help you," Lily said between clamping and unclamping her mouth with a hand. She took out her wand and waved it; the mess was gone moments later.

"I envy you," Tonks said with a grin. "I'm horrible at cleaning spells."

"Maybe if you practised," Lily said shortly, putting her wand away.

"How could I or you for that matter? We can't use magic outside of the school, we're underage." Tonks was opening up another Chocolate Frog and handed it to Lily. Lily took it and shrugged,

"I read the principles of the spell, it's easy."

"You mean that was your first time?" asked Dawn, bewildered. She had to lock up her wand so Jeremy couldn't get at it and play with it like he did in Ollivander's, she hadn't had time to inspect it as much as she would have liked. Lily shrugged again while Tonks gaped at her. Dawn smiled, admiring Lily's cleverness as she chewed on her own Chocolate Frog. She didn't like how it squirmed around inside her mouth before it went down her throat.

They began talking about spells and books and school as they ate their sweets. Dawn half listened to the others and herself when being spoken too. She remembered most of the contents from her reading material from over the summer, and wasn't that interested in the subjects Jeremy made her practically memorize. She sat around, clutching Cobwebs, who slept peacefully under her wing and nibbled on her Pumpkin Pasties. After awhile, Dawn suddenly spoke up.

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" she asked them. Tonks thought for a moment,

"Down the walkway to the left I think, or is it the right?"

"The right," Lily corrected. "Shall I show you?" Dawn shook her head.

"I get lost at times," she admitted. "But this shouldn't be too hard to find."

But it was. She walked down the walkway over and over again, peering at the doors, and finding none of them to be a bathroom. She sighed heavily, feeling anxious and awkward. She decided to head back to her compartment. Dawn opened up her compartment and found James, Sirius and Remus inside with a few other boys, chatting away. Seeing them there, she realised that it wasn't her compartment, and had some how managed to get to theirs. They looked up at her questioningly, a few staring at her hair.

"I...er—" she started, but decided against asking them where the bathroom was. She finally managed a, "Hello." and they said hello and no one spoke again for quite some time. "I'll just go then, sorry..." she said closing the door behind her. She hadn't taken two steps before hearing them laughing behind her.

"She had gum in her hair!"

"Did you see that?" Dawn mournfully picked at the gum that remained at the back of her head. James poked his head out of the door,

"Did you need something?" he asked her.

"Oh!" she said, "No, no—!" and scurried off. She found another door, and felt sure that, if she had gone in the right direction, this should have been their compartment and Lily and Tonks would have been there to greet her and help her instantly.

She was wrong again.

When she opened the door, several people were inside. They all had a sort of sneer on their lips and hard faces that looked too old for such young peoples save for one. A girl with the richest black hair Dawn had ever seen jerked to her feet and flew past Dawn without a word. Some tried to grab her back, but she wrenched free and ran; her face was barely in view from the wild fury of her hair streaming past. Most turned to gaze at Dawn with a cold stare after this. A girl with blond hair and icy blue eyes looked her up and down and scoffed at her quietly from beside her. Dawn was about to apologize for whatever she had done, but a voice stopped her.

"Oh, it's you." said the familiar voice. Dawn looked beside her to see Lucius Malfoy sitting down by himself on one of the long seats where the girl from before had jumped from. He looked up at Dawn through his long golden bangs, eyes amused and cold. Dawn stared at him for a very long time, feeling a cold sweat go down her back. The pale girl cleared her throat, as if to say,

"You can leave now." Dawn slowly, with out looking anywhere else but Lucius's leering face, closed the door. She backed away from the compartment and shivered, hoping to never have to see anyone's face with such malice engraved into their features ever again.

Dawn made her way through the compartments, deciding to knock on the door each time and ask for Lily or Tonks. She hadn't much luck, and had reached the last door in the carriage she was hopelessly lost inside. She knocked on its door dully, and waited for it to open. When it did, she saw a very familiar face, looking very much annoyed.

"What _is_ it? When the door is shut it means—" but the dark haired boy from King's Cross stopped suddenly when he saw Dawn standing before him. Dawn felt a smile dash to her lips and she grinned at him. He stuttered, "_You_? But how—!" he then gave her a most hateful scowl and slammed the door in her face, almost catching her nose. Dawn blinked and made sure her nose was still intact, and then knocked on his door again, firmly.

"Go away!" he hissed from inside.

"I need your help again!" she confessed trying to open the door, but he was holding it shut on the other side. They fought; one trying to keep the compartment door closed the other trying to wrench it open.

"Just go away, filthy stupid girl!" the boy snapped inside.

"I just need directions!" she insisted, wrenching harder, and putting a leg on the wall. She had no idea why she was trying to get it out of him, a boy, but he had helped her before hadn't he? And she really, really, _really_ needed to find the rest-room.

"I doubt anyone would help someone as stupid as _you_, but you just might get lucky, so just go find someone else to bother! Go away!"

"Just, point me in the direction at least, I really need to go!"

"Then go!"

"That's not what I meant, I—" The boy didn't speak for a moment, but a hand slipped out of the door and pointed down the corridor to her right. "Is —?" started Dawn with bright smile, letting go of the door.

"Just leave." snapped the boy inside, slamming the door shut again.

Dawn smiled at the door and almost laughed, but her laugh was caught by a sharp pain in her stomach when she took a deep breath. Her chest had been plaguing her with a stabbing pain for most of the train ride. She headed down the corridor, rubbing her neck a little as she took small even breaths. Then Lily was suddenly beside her.

"Where have you been?" she asked. "Did you get to the bathroom?"

Dawn shook her head smiling, and Lily looked puzzled but nonetheless, led Dawn to the washroom, telling her to hurry.

"We'll be arriving soon at Hogwarts. Here," she passed Dawn her robes. "Got these from your trunk, hope you don't mind." Dawn mumbled a "No," as she struggled to put them on after changing into her uniform. Lily had to help her when her braid got caught in her sweater's zipper, a strange occurrence that happened when ever Dawn was in a rush. They got back to the compartment alright just as an echoing voice rang out,

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please kindly leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately."

The girls hurried back to the compartment, and Dawn realised that she had been in a completely different carriage then the one their compartment was stationed in. Tonks was waiting inside, tapping her foot impatiently against the compartment floor. She was with another girl, who already had her robes on. The new girl had ebony locks that tumbled down her back, and dark emerald green eyes that watched Dawn coolly. Dawn stared at the girl, and recognition seemed to flicker over both of their faces.

"You're the girl—" the dark haired girl stuttered.

"—from that Malfoy's compartment!" Dawn finished. The girl nodded slowly, eyes shifting away with a strange expression cast on her face. It was only then that Dawn noticed a slight dishevelled look in the girl's hair, and the redness on her face that looked as if she had been scratched. They did not get a chance to introduce themselves, for Tonks was upon Dawn instantly upon her and Lily's arrival.

"There you two are!" she said. "I found her in the halls while Lily went out to find you. She's cool. But hurry! We got to go out into the corridors so we can get out in one piece. I don't want to be the last one to load the boats!"

"Boats?" Dawn asked Lily. But the girl, from the non-magical world too she had said, looked as confused as her. Stepping outside, Dawn saw huge crowds of students spill out of their compartments, waiting for the train to come to a complete stop. Over top of their heads, Dawn saw James and his friends laughing together in a tight circle. She waved to them and got a wave back from James and Sirius. Remus looked up and smiled and Dawn smiled back.

"Oi! There's Sirius," Tonks exclaimed. "Hey!" she yelled, getting a "Hey," back from Sirius in return. "We're kinda cousins," she explained to their little group.

"Huh..." the black haired girl glanced over to Sirius, "You don't look alike,"

"I know, eh?" Tonks grinned, getting a slight grin back from the girl beside her. The train suddenly lurched to a stop and Dawn fell forwards, grabbing onto the person in front of her.

"Funny how you keep popping up everywhere, Sunshine." said Lucius. He removed Dawn's hands from his arm and half smiled half sneered at something behind her. Dawn looked back and saw the dark haired girl from her compartment slightly glaring at him with a look of such malice that it could rival Lucius's glare. As Dawn mumbled an apology to Lucius, the ebony haired girl had already turned away with a jerk of her head and began talking quietly to Tonks, who hadn't noticed anything amiss. Lucius just smirked at her back and turned to face the doors again.

Dawn smiled nervously at Lily, who looked as is she was concentrating on something Dawn had no notion even existed. However, Dawn suddenly had a thought in her head as she looked at Lucius's back. She turned to Lily and squirmed over to her, tugging on the taller girl's sleeve,

"Lily?" she said. Lily blinked and looked at Dawn.

Her voice was strained with stressful anticipation when she answered. "What is it, Dawn?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me, what a Hufflepuff is?" Dawn asked the other girl. Lucius suddenly let out a suppressed snort of laughter, and the blond haired girl beside him tittered. Dawn waited for Lily to answer, not noticing them or Tonks clutching at the dark haired girl's robes and laughed, who looked slightly confused as well. Lily's lips twitched at their sides and she shook her head. She didn't know either.

"I'll tell you lot!" Tonks said. However, before she could tell the other three what exactly a Hufflepuff was, the crowd began to spill out of the carriages and into the dark of the night. Tonks spoke loudly in to them all over the roar of the crowd, "You'll find out later!" Dawn nodded, but was not really satisfied with having to wait until later.

Outside, Dawn found herself near to the ebony haired girl. She tried to get over to her to get her name, but toppled over and fell out of the crowd into a man. "Alright there?" the man asked her, helping her up. He was the most humongous person that she had ever seen, and if there as a time to feel so small you might be stepped on, it was now for little Dawn. She nodded timidly so he turned to the crowd, "Firs' years! Over here, now! Firs' years!" the crowd turned to see the man near Dawn, who was very large and hairy, waving them over with a lantern and enormous hand. "Over here now!" he called again as the others made their way over to him and Dawn. "Firs' years!" he bellowed.

After they had all been gathered, they followed the man, who introduced himself as Hagrid, down a long and winding path that seemed to be placed on a cliff. It lead down to the black lake that Lily had been staring at previously, and Dawn too could see the shimmering lights of a castle that was Hogwarts on top of a high mountain, across the black waters. It was a huge castle with many towers and turrets protruding from the walls and roof. Dawn strained to see over the heads of the other first years to see where it was they were going to at the edge of the black lake. It was the boats that Tonks had mentioned. When the crowd had spilled out into the vessels that waited for them, Dawn saw that they would be riding in slim little boats positioned in the shore.

"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid was calling out to them. Many friends and huge groups had to separate. Dawn caught up to Lily, Tonks and the ebony haired girl and climbed inside. She looked over to the boats beside them. Many people pointed at her and smiled. Dawn smiled too; many of these she had walked in on when trying to find a compartment and the bathroom.

Beside them in the next boat, a drawling voice was talking about the news from some sort of paper called, The _Daily Prophet_. Dawn glanced over to see Lucius, and two other boys, who were large and bulky, in deep conversation. However, Lucius seemed to be the only one really talking; the other two boys seemed lost for words. Lucius looked up to the crowds who were still spilling into the boats. He gave a soft sneer and waved someone over. The dark haired boy climbed into the boat beside Lucius's, quite hesitantly, and immediately positioned himself far away from the other similar scowling faces. Lucius called over,

"What's the problem Snape? Our kind has to stick together, no matter how abnormal they might be." The dark haired boy shot a threatening glare at Lucius who laughed it off.

"Well then," Hagrid was calling out, "Let's be off —FORWARD!"

The boats lurched forward on their own, all skimming across the smooth waters in the direction of the castle. They had to duck down several time because of cliffs, but Dawn didn't pay much attention to the journey, or the destination. She lay on her arm on the side of the boat, and out her fingers in the water, touching the cool liquid as they journeyed. Dawn gazed off, watching the ripples form until Lily shook her to her senses, and told her they had arrived. Dawn looked up to the castle as they unloaded, and followed Hagrid up to the top of the stone tunnel they had docked themselves in. At the end, he led them up a huge fleet of stairs to a wooden, possibly oak, door. There, it was opened by a tall dark haired woman with green eyes, quite similar to the dark haired girl's; the same sort of emerald likeness, but lighter.

"Here'er the firs' years, Professor McGonnagall," spoke Hagrid.

"Thank you Hagrid," she said, her face stern and cross looking. "You may leave them to me now,"

* * *

Notes!

Yay! Raven appeared!! The first connection to the two stories was shown...mwahahaha...I love Raven, really, because she can be kick ass and still wish to be weak in the arms of the one she loves...Dawn is...Dawn is...SIGH. This chapter was fun to write...heh. REMUS!! KYAH! I'd like to point out that I DO know that Tonks and Lucius were not in the same year as James and the others...but for the sake of the story they are. So THERE. I don't care how much of the Potter universe we screw up in the process of writing the stroy. It's fanfiction...things will get screwy. That's just how it is. Please be sure to read Raven's story!! Look Ku-chan!! Another chapter! Raven's here, Raven's here!

-INARI


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons. But she does not own Raven Green, that is her friend's character. ;)

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

The Dreaded Sorting and the Beautiful Banquet

* * *

Dawn and the rest of the nervous and awkward first years followed Professor McGonnagall down the entrancef hall. The castle walls were smooth and made of ancient stone that were patterned with cracks, littered with paintings and draped in spider's webs. The high stairs, that seemed to reach almost to the top of the enormous ceiling, were made or marble and glittered under the many torch lights. Dawn would stop to gape at these stairs when they suddenly moved and turned to another wall. The anxious first years followed the teacher, some having to run once she began walking very briskly. They soon came to a small chamber near a set of immense doors. Dawn put a hand on the leering doors, and felt them vibrate under the sounds of the other students' voices. The older years must have arrived before them. They were however, not going through these doors, but going into the small chamber beside it. The crowd of first years had to squeeze together, standing very close to one another.

The ebony haired girl was near Dawn, trying silently to stay as far away from Lucius and his friends, as possible. Dawn kindly put herself between them, although she didn't particularly want to be near the sour looking bunch as well so she awkwardly held on to Lily's sleeve, to which she looked down almost relieved for she looked quite unnerved as well. Though of course it was for different reasons entirely; Dawn was just trying to feel latched onto someone who wasn't leering. The hollow faces were very hard and cold looking, as if they were born with their frowns and sneers. Lucius ignored Dawn and the ebony haired girl however, and was talking lowly to the others in his circle. Dawn couldn't see the dark haired boy anywhere; the one Lucius had called Snape.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonnagall, said, her voice silencing the whispers and murmurs. "The start of the term banquet, behind those doors you most likely saw, will begin shortly. However, before you take your seats, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting ceremony is a very special and traditional part of Hogwarts, and I'm sure most of you had heard about it from your family. Some more than others," she finished with a polite nod.

Dawn wasn't sure if Jeremy knew of the houses, and decided she would have to send him a letter then.

"You will have classes with the rest of your year and house. You will sleep in your house dormitory and spend any free time you have in your house common-room.

The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose you house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour, I assure you. So I hope each and every one of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"The Slytherins have been winning for a couple of years going," Tonks was saying knowingly and quietly. "But the Ravenclaws had a win back, stole it from Gryffindor, who seems to win if Slytherin doesn't. And Hufflepuff?" she nodded to Dawn. "Not so much winning, not so much points,"

Dawn felt anxious then. '_Points?_' she thought. It sounded complicated, and she hoped she would catch on sooner or later. Perhaps Lily knew what it was about, this whole point business. Or maybe Tonks. Tonks had come from a wizarding family while Lily had come from a muggle family. Yes maybe she should spare Lily the agony of not knowing so much when clearly, she found it irksome. Dawn turned her attention away from her anxious thoughts and listened to Professor McGonnagall once more.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up a bit while you are waiting." She then left the chamber telling them she would come back for them shortly.

Lily began to redo her hair in a ponytail instead of wearing it long, and Tonks concentrated to make her hair have red stripes in it against the now forest green. The ebony haired girl smoothed out her hair a bit and Dawn decided to braid her hair again, as it was falling apart already.

"If you did it up more, or bound it more tightly," the ebony haired girl was saying. "Then it wouldn't fall out all the time." Dawn looked up smiling, she was glad to hear the other girl's voice at last. It was a nice sort of voice, Dawn thought to herself. Confident; she liked that.

"But it's uncomfortable if it's up, but I suppose I could tie it more tightly. Thank you."

The girl nodded and watched the other students. Dawn looked around as well.

Sirius was looking around lazily, not doing anything to fix himself. Remus however was straightening James's robes with a sigh, saying something about them being backwards, while James tried in vain to flatten his messy hair. Remus, after his work glanced at Sirius.

"Honestly, Black—"

"Sirius,"

"Alright then…aren't you going to fix that collar? It's practically upside down…"

Sirius gave a shrug.

Dawn looked around for the dark haired boy but could not find him. She had a slight feeling in her mind that he was avoiding everyone he knew. Lucius was receiving comments from some sneering girls as they tittered over him.

"I don't know why you're concerned," one was saying with a shrill giggle.

"Yes, you look so handsome with out the extra work..." Said another with a half shriek. Lucius smiled haughtily and turned to the door and to Dawn. She turned away hurriedly, not wanting to be caught staring at him. She rubbed her hands together and looked to the door, hoping the teacher would come back soon so they could get the Sorting Ceremony over with. Somehow her silent pleadings got through to the door and it opened, revealing Professor McGonnagall. She cleared her throat and let out a sharp voice,

"Move along now. Form a line and follow me." The students did so wordlessly. Dawn was behind Lily with Tonks and the ebony haired girl behind her. Sirius stepped into place behind her and accidentally stepped on the back of her shoe. She glanced back reproachfully and he gave another of his long shrugs. She decided to ignore him. They all walked out back across the hall and into the main chamber doors, leading to the Great Hall.

"Wow," Dawn breathed as they entered a huge hall, filled with glittering candles floating in the air. The other first years were muttering their amazement as well, and some were waving excitedly to family members. A girl sitting at one of the four extremely long tables laughed in her seat as Dawn breathed out her bewilderment. Dawn smiled nervously at her and the girl's friends, who waved politely from their seats at the first years.

"There's my brother!" one said.

"Eh? He looks like you!" a friend replied.

"Here's hoping he's a Ravenclaw too, eh?"

Four long tables stretched across the hall, decorated with gold plates and goblets. Each of the students that sat there were wearing the clothes of Hogwarts, but each table had their own set of colours that were adorned on them in crests and ties and stockings, part of the ensemble that the first years were missing from their attire. At the top of a small area of three or four stairs was a landing, where the professors sat on their own long, head table, while the students sat on the other four below them and murmured as the students came in. They looked excited, at it caught on to the first years. Lily was staring at the ceiling, which didn't seem to be there at all, but was instead the glittering night sky above them, filled with stars and other heavenly bodies shining down on them.

"Must be a spell…" Lily breathed.

"It's incredible," Dawn blinked.

Professor McGonagall led them to the foot of the landing where the teachers sat. They lined up and faced the hundreds of students, who watched them murmuring and smiling. Now that they were in full view of the crowd, some of the first years were gasping and pointing and waving to the ones that they knew. Dawn didn't have anyone to wave at, at began to miss Jeremy terribly all of a sudden. She had been too busy to think of him much and now she half wished he was there in the crowd, sitting among the lot. He would have jumped up and down when he saw her, calling out her name and shouting at the other students: "That's her! That's Dawn!" He had done that at one of her Christmas concerts at her old muggle school.

Professor McGonagall set in front of the students a stool, and placed upon it a very old and battered pointed wizard's hat. Dawn wondered how such a thing could keep itself together. It had to be part of the Sorting Ceremony, that or a mascot for the school; a very old and musty mascot. Dawn smiled at it and found everyone else staring at it as well, as if it were about to do something. So it obliged and twitched. The brim of the hat seemed to form a mouth and it began, to Dawn's delight, to sing a low and drawling merry song about each of the houses.

Ravenclaw, the raven's house that valued intelligence, wit, and creativity; Slytherin, the snake's house which valued ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness; Gryffindor, the lion's house which valued nerve, chivalry, courage and the daring; and finally Hufflepuff, the house of the badger that valued hard work, loyalty and tolerance. Dawn began to feel a little sombre; finally she knew what a Hufflepuff was, but was she a Hufflepuff? The other girls, the ones that she had met on the train all seemed so confident and interesting. If she was placed in Hufflepuff, she was sure that they wouldn't be.

The entire hall broke into a round of hearty applause when the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables while Dawn and the tables clapped. It then became quite still and Dawn was afraid it had gone to sleep. She bit her lip anxiously as McGonagall spoke again.

"When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and put on the hat. You shall then be sorted and move to your house table!" called out the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall.

"Abbot, Alfred!" A pink faced boy scurried from the line and hurriedly and went to the stool. He placed the hat over his head and after a moment, that hat cried out to the hall,

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right let out a cheer and waved the boy over. Dawn felt her heart skip a beat. The table seemed friendly, and the house itself valued wonderful things, but still…The names went on for awhile each going to different houses. But then, Sirius was called up next. He trotted over the hat and nimbly put it on. After a moment, the hat cried to the crowd,

"GRYFFINDOR!" and the table on the far left exploded in cries of joy and astonishment. Dawn heard some say,

"We've got a Black!" and other murmurs through the other tables. Slytherin's table seemed to have a lot of very angry faces and they glared at Sirius even more than they glared at the other tables and Gryffindor for cheering. A boy in the line with them growled and looked ready to spit on the ground, while Lucius and his crew looked over, malice in their faces. Sirius however smiled broadly and looked so happy he could have whooped. He took the hat from his head and almost bounded over to Gryffindors side. "You better be with me Potter!" he cried.

"Just you wait! I'm the letter 'P' after all!" James yelled. McGonagall shushed him and continued.

"Boot, Kelton!" shouted Professor McGonagall.

"RAVENCLAW!" cried the hat, and the table second from the left clapped Kelton over and shook hands with him politely. The tables all seemed to greet their newcomers differently; Gryffindor would madly shout in the air and cheer; the Hufflepuffs would laugh and clap for their first years; the Ravenclaws would clap and shake the hands of their first years; and Slytherins would look smug, clap for their new recruits and almost hiss at the other tables when they got too cheery. Dawn was going through her head what house she would like to go into, since she was obviously dreading the smug look of Lucius Malfoy. But then, the Slytherins looked so…so…she couldn't place it but she wouldn't want to take classes with them she figured. Ravenclaw look alright, but could she keep up with them academically, she wondered. Then there was Gryffindor, and Dawn bowed her head; she didn't think she was very brave at all.

"Crabbe, Vincent!" and one of the very bulky boys that was part of Lucius's crowd lumbered over to the Slytherin table. Dawn was about to turn to Lily and ask for some advice about to handle everything when,

"Detroit, Dawn!" Dawn froze in her spot and couldn't move for a few seconds, but James who was near her, stretched arm behind the line and gave her a push, mostly because he wanted to get through to his letter. She nearly toppled over into a table but caught her self just in time. The hall tittered and Dawn had to smile just a bit.

'_I'm thinking too hard about this…I'm sure whatever house will be alright_,' but when she turned to gaze at the Sorting Hat and the stool, she wanted so badly to turn heel and run.

She trembled as she climbed up onto the school, finding one leg to be shorter than the others so it tipped merrily from time to time. She held the Hat in her hands for a moment, feeling the coarse leather material in her fingers. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat with a glare at Dawn, so the girl shoved it on her head before she could second guess herself. It balanced there for a while before falling over here eyes, with only her nose visible when it caught on the rim.

"Ah!" she gave a gasp. To this, Dawn heard a slight chuckle from the teacher's table, from a voice that sounded warm and gentle. She wanted to see who it was but the Hat had to do what the Hat had to do after all. And then, although no one was very near to her, she heard a breath in her ear and a voice in her head,

"Hmmm, here's someone open minded," Dawn almost fell of the chair.

"Yes, plenty of kindness, clever too, and quite a bit clumsy I might say." Dawn blushed. "But you have good intentions. Perhaps you'll do well in Hufflepuff…"

Dawn's back snapped her up to a very ridged stance, 'No no no no no no no no no no no no no.' she was insisting,

"Don't worry silly girl, like your father, I'll place you somewhere where you'll really shine, GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted on top her head. Dawn fell off the stool and the Gryffindor table let out cheers and ringing laughter, as did some of the other tables. The Slytherins just looked smug when they saw her regain her balance.

"Wait…my father??" Dawn carefully put back the hat, whispering as she spoke. "What did you mean? Who was he?"

"Come now Detroit, get moving," McGonagall said sternly, pushing her away from the stool. Dawn apologized and ran over to Sirius. He moved over some chairs to leave space for the others to journey over to Gryffindor while she sat across from him. Sirius was waving to Remus and James and turned to nod to her with a lop sided grin.

"Didn't expect _you_ to be in Gryffindor," Sirius said with a slight laugh. Dawn smiled,

"Neither did I," she admitted. She looked beside her on the table to see two familiar faces. It was the couple she had ran into when she first boarded the train. They both had bright red hair and smiling faces. The girl was blushing slightly, but waved to Dawn The boy looked up from staring at his companion wistfully, and waved as well.

"I'm Arthur Weasly!" he shouted across the clapping of the tables as another first year was then sent to Ravenclaw. The girl called as well,

"Molly Prewett!" she said with another blush and fiddle with her hair.

"I'm Dawn!" Dawn called over to them. They nodded and turned to the ceremony again, and Dawn decided to pay attention to the Sorting as well.

"Evans, Lily!" McGonagall called, and Dawn gripped the edge of her seat as the girl with beautiful green almond shaped eyes went up and…

"GRYFFINDOR!" Dawn clapped over and cheered with the rest of Gryffindor and Lily ran to sit beside her. She put a hand on her chest and let out a huge sigh,

"That was exciting," breathed out Lily. Her face was flushed and she sat limply in her chair. "Did it talk to you?" Lily asked Dawn. Dawn nodded with a playful smile.

"That or we're both crazy," Dawn replied. Lily let out a real laugh and didn't cover it up this time. "This entire place is crazy!" she grinned. Sirius leaned back in his chair with a smug face.

"Wouldn't be that interesting if it wasn't," he said. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Green, Raven!"

"What?" Sirius laughed, "A green raven?"

"GRYFFINDOR!" The ebony haired girl walked briskly to Lily and Dawn and sat beside them, eyes bright and grinning. Lily gave her a pat on the back,

"Glad to see another familiar face." she said. Raven laughed and pushed back some of her shining locks from her eyes. Dawn leaned forward to look at the girl from across Lily.

"Raven, I like that name." Dawn said dreamily. "I wish it were my name."

"Goyle, Gregory!"

Raven looked down at her hands in her lap after Dawn spoke, a red tinged on her cheeks, "You don't really," she insisted, but sounded almost pleased as she spoke. Sirius shook with silent laughter from beside Dawn. Dawn looked to him and he leaned across the table. She stood up for a moment and let him whisper into her ear, "Squawk."

Dawn gasped and clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter as Raven looked at her quizzically.

"Dawn, are you alright?" Lily asked. Dawn nodded and pointed with a free hand to the Sorting Hat.

"Lupin, Remus!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" Sirius jumped up with a roar and clapped madly, waving a shy looking Remus over beside him. He sat down and took a deep breath just as Lily had.

"Never, ever hold your breath for too long." He was saying so that the girls could hear him. "You just might fall off the stool." Sirius gave a bark of laughter and clapped him on the back. Dawn giggled and looked over to the rest of the crowd. Tonks was doing a similar dance-on-the-spot dance like Cobwebs had been doing earlier that morning. She couldn't suppress her grin and impatience to get to the stool. But she would have to wait.

"Malfoy, Lucius!"

"SLYTHERIN!" bellowed the hat after no less than a moments thought. Lucius looked pleased and joined some of his crowd in the seats of the Sytherin table. They smiled smugly with him and he looked over the other tables fwith a sneer. Dawn saw movement beside her and saw Raven looking up to glare at Lucius, but she looked extremely relieved to have him at another table entirely. Sirius was fidgeting in his seat, and Dawn realised who must be coming up next to the Sorting Hat.

"Potter, James!" shouted Professor McGonnagall. James nearly fell off his feet as he scurried over to the hat and shoved it on his head. The whole hall could hear the hat's protest and Dawn laughed along with the rest of them at James's silly smile.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat said at last, sounding slightly amused. James gave a hoot of joy and ran off after throwing that hat on the stool. Professor McGonnagall called reproachful words to him, but James was already at the Gryffindor table and jumping in his seat by Remus and Sirius. Dawn gave a "Hurray!" and James beamed at her and began to talk about the 'ordeal' with Sirius. Remus laughed from time to time, listening to them and peering up at the stool from time to time.

"Snape, Severus!" cried out Professor McGonnagall. The dark haired boy walked over to the stool, fists clenched at his sides before he nimbly put on the hat before he even sat on the stool. Dawn didn't notice her back straighten, or her head shoot up, straining to see the boy as he was sorted. Lily glanced nervously at Dawn as Dawn half stood to get a better look. James looked from Dawn to the boy on the stool and almost glared.

"You know him?" he asked coolly. Dawn shook her head, still trying to see over the many heads. James shrugged and let the matter drop when Severus Snape was put in,

"SLYTHERIN!"

Dawn slumped in her seat, almost sadly.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Raven from beside her. Dawn shook her head, trying to think of something to say, she hardly knew why herself, but then suddenly remembered.

"I have his book, I think." she replied. "It would have been easier to give it to him if he was in our house."

Sirius let out a snort. "That guy? In Gryffindor? He's more likely to be a Hufflepuff than a Gryffindor any day. Should've seen him when he boarded! All huffing about and searching like a madman for an empty compartment; and then he wouldn't let anyone else inside of it, no one! Prat…" Dawn frowned at her golden cup and followed Severus with her eyes as he sat at the table, his back to her.

"Tonks, Nymphadora!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" At last Tonks had joined them. She sat beside Raven who smiled mischievously at her. Sirius looked over to her from behind his chair as well. At the same time they both said,

"Nymphadora?" Raven and Sirius stared at each other oddly for a moment, and turned back to Tonks who had her face buried in her arms.

"Oh shut up," she growled. Sirius poked her with his golden fork. "We're cousins Sirius! You know my name! So just…shut up!"

"Don't worry," he said, still jabbing her back and laughing as he continued. "After all, Dawn here always has something nice to say about odd little names,"

Lily glanced at Sirius, "Like yours?"

James chuckled when Sirius stopped laughing.

"But Nymphadora is a wonderful name!" exclaimed Dawn. "I don't see why you call yourself Tonks. Nymphadora is so, so beautiful! Like a fairy…or a sprite or something!" Tonks glanced at the beaming Dawn and had a look of utter despair on her face.

"You see?" Sirius was saying. "Every time,"

After all the first years were sorted, a man from the middle of the teacher's table stood and the hall immediately silenced. Dawn stared at the man with intense fascination. He was tall with sandy hair starting its journey into becoming silver. His beard swept down past the table rim and onto the floor, still going by curling up slightly. He looked around with twinkling blue eyes and raised a hand to them all, in an unmoving wave,

"I welcome you to a new and exhilarating year at Hogwarts! I know there are many things to explain, but you have all been waiting so long, so, I say, let us eat!" Dishes appeared in front of the students, piled high with rich foods. Dawn took a little of everything, surprising Lily when it really was just a little.

"Won't you eat more?" Lily asked her, piling some peas and carrots onto her plate.

"Yeah," said Sirius his mouth full or Yorkshire pudding and roast beef mounted onto his fork. James was stuffing himself with potatoes and gravy, while Remus looked at them with a cold horror as he daintily put his pork chops into very small pieces and ate them quietly. "You eat like a bird," Sirius was saying, jabbing his bulked up fork from Dawn's face over to Raven. Lily pushed it away with a grimace when a bit of the gravy dropped on her hand.

"I mean, Birdy over there should eat like you do." He finished. Raven stopped chewing on her chicken and her mouth twitched a little in a grimace. She glared at Sirius and James, who were saying,

"No! Don't eat your uncle!"

"I think that's her aunt, Sirius."

"Does it matter?"

Raven looked ready to bash her plate over there heads so Dawn quickly said,

"What's Quidditch?" they gaped at her but seemed eager to explain the sport to her, saving Raven a little bit of peace. Raven talked quietly with Tonks and Lily, while Dawn listened to the boys speak, having to wipe saliva and food from her face when they turned their stuffed mouths in her direction. Remus shook his head in his friend's direction and handed Dawn a napkin and Lily too, for she couldn't reach them from across the table.

After some time of the students gorging away at their food, perhaps not Dawn but the majority none the less, the food suddenly disappeared after revealing desserts of pie and cake. Soon after, those too were gone. All the while the group of first years that had gathered around Dawn and the little group were talking excitedly over classes and mumbling about things they had forgotten. Dawn could barely keep her eye on one face for long before another started talking about something else that she thought interesting. By the end of it, she felt drained and the desserts had disappeared. Dumbledore stood again after James and Sirius were done lamenting on their lost pie but looking so full so Dawn didn't see what there was to complain about.

"I shall remind you all," said Dumbledore with a booming voice over the hall. "That first years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils as well as sneaking out after curfew and using magic between classes in the halls. Also, Quidditch trials begin in the second week of the term, anyone interested in playing for their house teams and in their second year or older, may present themselves to the team captains or Madam Hooch." James and Sirius groaned. After the way they went on about Quidditch, Dawn could see they were very upset. Or perhaps those pounds of food they stuffed themselves with were hitting their stomachs at last. "So I bid you all farewell and have a good night." He departed with the teachers and the first years were told to follow the house prefects to their dormitories. Dawn watched Dumbledore go, watching his back sombre away and stop to say hello to students and the large man named Hagrid that had taken care of them on the journey. Lily tugged on her sleeve to get Dawn to follow the rest of them, and the other girl felt sad almost to leave the hall, and be out of sight of Dumbledore. The way he had spoken to them all was incredibly familiar, although he had never met the newcomers before. She wished greatly to speak to him, the headmaster of Hogwarts, and ask if perhaps she could speak to the strange Sorting Hat again.

A tall boy and a wispy looking girl, who were quite a few years older than the rest of them, led them out of the Great Hall. Most of the children were very sleepy, especially Dawn. She kept bumping into things and apologizing to the moving paintings, that didn't seem to startle her as much as the Sorting Hat had. Had she had the time and the awareness, she would have looked at the paintings more closely, but she had none of these things at the moment. She noted in her head vaguely the different hidden doors among tapestries and sliding panels to get to the climbing of more stair cases. James and Sirius were complaining even more so about the pies, telling themselves that they'd stash some the next time around, and after awhile the prefect boy told them to shut up. Lily and the rest of the girls looked relived, and even Remus couldn't hide his slightly satisfied smile as only the sound of their heavy feet were heard in the corridors and the other softer mumbles of the Gryffindor first years.

At the very end was a large painting of a fat lady in a very pink dress. She moved just like the other paintings, and spoke to them, saying, "Password?" The prefect boy answered while the girl told them to remember this password and never tell it to anyone outside of Gryffindor. The passwords would change at times, she also explained, so they had to remember which one was being used. If they needed any help, just to ask the Gryffindor prefects.

"Polly woggles." the prefect boy was saying, and Dawn let out a little laugh that soon mixed in with a yawn. The other girls were looking just as tired. Tonks gave a huge lion's yawn, Lily covered her own and Raven stretched a bit. The painting slid over to reveal a large hole in the wall. The common-room was very homely, and a bit stuffy as well but only in a warm sort of way from the evening fires in the great hearths. It was filled with comfy armchairs and a roaring fire and fire place and the entire place was coloured in gold and reds. The girl prefect led the first year girls through a door and up some more stairs to their dormitory, while the boy prefect led James and the other boys away. James let out a stifled yawn and tried to say goodnight to the lot of them, but Sirius grabbed his friend's hand and dragged him into their dormitory. Remus shook his head smiling at them, before waving to the ones they had sat with and closing the boy's door behind him. Lily, Dawn Tonks and Raven all glanced at each other and sped off to a room that had a larger window than the rest, claiming it as their own. They laughed and yawned and looked about for placed to sleep.

Their beds were four four-poster beds, ready made and their trunks near by. Each bed was large and filled with deep blankets and thick pillows and a bedside table for each. Dawn had never seen a bed so neat. That sort of thing seemed to be lacking in her bedroom and Jeremy's. Everyone groggily changed into their pyjamas and began to pick out beds from the rooms and drag their trunks into them from the hall.

"Can I have the one by the window?" Dawn said to the other girls. No one seemed to mind and she climbed into the bed grabbing her trunk and shoving it beside her bed. She climbed in when everyone else had arranged beds and began to fall asleep.

"What a day," Lily breathed from beside Dawn.

"What a banquet!" laughed Tonks from another bed.

"I don't even want to read my texts tonight…" Lily yawned.

"You're crazy Lily," Raven's laugh was farther across the room and Tonks laughed with her. But Dawn was so sleepy that all sounds seemed to mix and blur together, until only silence flooded into her ears and the darkness closed her eyes and she finally fell into dreams.

* * *

Notes!

This was long...yes it was...lots of things going on here...lots of housing and sorting and eating and jokes and all that. I like writing this chapter though...I liked writing about Dumbledore...mmm hmm. I think Tonks was sorted into Slytherin...but that doesn't matter. For the sake of this story and Ku-chan's story, and of course for RAVEN'S sake...she shall be in Gryffindor...should've been in there anyway if she was placed in Slytherin...hmph. Happy reading, review if you can!

-INARI


	8. Chapter 8

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Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn fDetroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

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A Touch of Sunlight

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**Chapter Eight**

The Third Meeting Can't Be Any Worse Than the Last Two...Right?

* * *

When Lily awoke the next morning, she felt very well rested. She stretched and yawned and climbed out of bed to get on her robes and bathroom supplies from her trunk. The bathrooms as well as the baths, the prefect had told them, were down the end of the hall where the girls slept. However, there was a small bathroom in each of the rooms as well, which contained a small toilet and sink. Lily went there and washed her face and brushed her teeth. Tonks was waking up too, but Raven slumbered on peacefully while the two of them and shuffled around and gathered their things. While Tonks was pulling on her robes and checking her hair in a mirror she tripped on one of Lily's shining black shoes that had left on the ground, and crashed into Raven. The girl woke up with a grunt and glared sleepily at Tonks, who meekly apologized. Raven sighed and rubbed her leg where Tonks's elbow had smashed into it and looked around. Seeing everyone half ready to go downstairs for breakfast in the Great Hall, she clambered out of bed and made haste. When she went over to Lily to ask for a hair-elastic, she noticed something.

"Where's Dawn?" she asked Tonks and Lily. Lily looked over to Dawn's bed, which had been hadn't been made or tidied up, but with no sleeper in sight.

"I guess she woke up early," replied Tonks, making her hair orange, which proved difficult, and eyes dark grey. "It's so hard to make them black." she mumbled to herself.

"Save it for Halloween then, Tonks." replied Lily, brushing off her robes and then tugging them over her uniform. There were ties, scarfs and stockings in the Gryffindor colours for the girls that had been laid on their bed side tables. Lily took her own and began adding them to her uniform. Tonks scowled at her eyes in the mirror and left it at a slightly darker grey than before.

In the Great Hall many of the students had arrived already, and were chatting away looking over their time tables that had been handed out by the prefects from each of the teachers. The girls had learned that the stern and sour-faced McGonnagall was their house's head and was sure that all of the first years had sighed a little over it. Students were devouring their breakfast, but in a seat near the end of the Gryffindor table, sat Dawn, poking at her loaf with a finger. Her head rolled on her arm as she stared at it, puncturing it finally to make it look like a happy face.

"Hey Dawn," yawned Tonks coming over to sit down. "Where've you been?"

"Here," Dawn smiled. "Morning by the way,"

"Morning…" Raven yawned and Tonks nodded. Lily sat beside Dawn on the other side and started piling food onto her plate for breakfast. Tonks was munching on a golden apple while Raven was eating hot cereal.

"So, should we find our classes together then?" Tonks asked. She gave Dawn a friendly nod. "Wouldn't want to get lost here now would we?" Dawn smiled and shook her head.

"You sure wake up early," Raven was saying, now munching on some toast and jam, and reaching for an apple to place on her plate after pouring juice in her cup.

"Compared to you getting up late?" said Lily, sipping her juice quietly. Raven gave a half hearted scowl, and then shrugged. James suddenly appeared behind Raven and snatched the apple out of her hands.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. James opened his mouth to take a bite, but Remus appeared behind him and took the apple before he could devour it. He handed it back to Raven and began to scold James about pranks being done far too early in the morning.

"So any other time is good then, is it?" James grinned. While Remus sighed, Dawn looked up behind Raven and pointed. Raven looked behind her just as Sirius took the apple from her, and before Remus could intervene, he took a huge bite out of it.

"Thanks," Sirius grinned walking over to his seat on the other side and sitting in front of her, eating the apple as if it were the sweetest thing in the world.

Raven scowled and began to rise to her seat, but Dawn tossed her another apple. "Here, this one isn't rotten like the last one," Raven smirked at Sirius, biting into her new apple. Sirius began spit out his apple onto his plate his face slightly green along the edges of his cheek.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he spat at Dawn. Pieces of apple flew into Remus's hair and he gingerly flicked them off with a look of minor disgust. Dawn looked bemused.

"I thought you might have liked rotten apples," she said sounding as surprised as her face.

"Who likes rotten apples?!" Sirius half shouted, chucking the remains of the apple at a hunched over James, who had been laughing uncontrollably. When James began to try and get the rotten apple pieces out of his hair, Lily pondered aloud.

"That's odd though," she was saying. "I read somewhere that it's the house elves that magic the food to the table and take it back. Everything is supposed to be perfect, else wise they throw fits of wailing,"

"Hmmm…" Tonks smiled. "Must've missed that one then,"

"Gah…" Sirius sulked, watching Raven finish her perfectly good apple with a look of longing. She glanced at him,

"What? There's bowls full of them," she told him, gesturing. Before he could retort back to her, for he looked good and ready, Lily suddenly gasped.

"Oh! We're going to be late!" she grabbed her books and hurried the rest of the girls along. "Come on! Come on!"

"We've got loads of time!" Tonks whined.

"Not if we want to get there without fail! We have to get there properly! What if we get lost?" Tonks sighed after Lily was done lecturing her and grabbed Raven and pulled her along.

"My toast!" Raven exclaimed. Dawn grabbed the piece off of Raven's plate and handed it to her. Raven munched it down; looking pleased and allowed herself to be dragged off by Tonks, until she was done eating that is. Remus had already packed and began to walk off with them. Soon Sirius followed and then James, who pushed Sirius into a wall and then ran after Sirius gave chase. They ran past the lot of them, laughing wildly.

"What do we have any ways?" Tonks said walking with them and waving to a painting of two wizards duelling. They waved back and continued to send sparks at each other. Dawn stopped to watch the painting completely enthralled, and Lily had to go back for her and drag her away. Dawn kept glancing back to the painting again and again until she couldn't see it anymore.

"Defence against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff…," Lily answered when she returned with Dawn in tow, "Wait no…it's Monday, right? So then that's Herbology first with Ravenclaw and then DADA with Hufflepuff," She said this as she was flipping through a book to where she had placed her time table. "Then lunch and double Potions afterwards. I can't wait for tomorrow; we have History of Magic then! It's sure to be exciting,"

"We only have Potions on Monday and Friday afternoons." Dawn said rubbing her darkened lids. "Right?"

"Yes," Remus nodded, who was also looking at his timetable. "I heard Herbology is in the green houses outside. We're in Greenhouse....One today? I didn't mark it down," he asked Lily, who nodded soon after confirming it on her timetable. James had come back with Sirius to hear the end of the conversation. Both were red faced and panting. He looked at one of the grandfather clocks positioned in the corridors.

"Better hurry then," he replied starting to trot away with Sirius close behind him. Remus began to walk briskly and Dawn started to skip after them with the rest of their group.

Herbology was lead by the head of Hufflepuff, a stout and mud covered witch named Professor Sprout. They spent the first class looking around the greenhouse and looking over their books in a sort of scavenger hunt. The class who found more items on their list than the other would receive ten points. Lily and Remus were doing quite well, while Dawn was still looking over a plant, trying to decide if it was the right root, or the root that looked like the right root, but wasn't the right root. The Ravenclaws, supposedly to be the studious bunch weren't doing much better at the game, but some were waltzing around with the same zest as Remus and Lily. Tonks and Raven had found a few things together to add to the growing pile, but when a certain stick turned out to be alive once snapped off the bush, they gave chase after it. James and Sirius were trying to provoke a rather large plant that resembled a Venus fly trap into coming alive for them. They were stopped when Professor Sprout bounded over upon hearing Dawn's cries of protest as the plant tried to devour her braid. The witch scolded the two boys and deducted five points from Gryffindor for their, "reckless and atrocious behaviour that she would never tolerate in any of the green houses from any student".

Remus apologized for his friends, but Dawn seemed to have forgotten the matter entirely and was more absorbed in the colour of the floral then fixing her hair. Lily eventually noticed and helped her redo the braid before they went over to their next class with homework from Herbology. The rest of the first years were sighing over James and Sirius. They had managed to win against the Ravenclaws but since five points were taken away, they gained only five. The homework was simple enough though, which lightened the moods of everyone.

"Identify as many plants you saw in the greenhouse as you can, the scavenger hunt should've helped you. Hand that into me with your drawn sketches of the most deadly or most harmless ones on your list."

"Urm…" Dawn said from behind Professor Sprout. She turned around with a friendly smile.

"Yes? What is it?" she asked.

"Oh—I was wondering if I could…possibly do sketches of the most deadly and the most harmless." Dawn asked. Professor Sprout smiled.

"Well…if you have the time I don't see why not," she smiled. Dawn smiled back.

In Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom,f they were introduced to the course with a dull and boring speech on the dangers of the Dark Arts. The teacher could have made the subject seem more interesting, Dawn thought, with the way he went on and on about a dark wizard and protecting themselves from his minions. Dawn leaned over to Remus who sat beside her and Lily. James and Sirius had been sitting together at another group-of-three table near them. They kept pestering Remus about borrowing his notes, to which Remus tried to tell them that there were no notes, that the teacher was reading out of the textbook for the most part, and they should be quiet.

"Who's this person he keeps talking about?" Dawn said in a hushed voice.

"Which person?" Remus said, trying to sound as if he wasn't as bored as the rest of the class, when really he had been nodding off every now and again. Raven had her head on the desk and was staring at the teacher with drowsy eyes. Tonks was practically snoring. Lily must've been the only one who looked awake. She stared intensely at the teacher as if her life depended on hearing every word that he was saying.

"He Who Must Not Be Named?" Dawn clarified then.

Remus's eyes popped out of his head. "You don't know?" he said looking bewildered and voice laced with worry.

"I think I heard of him, or saw the name on a title in a Daily Prophet left on the Gryffindor table, but it doesn't ring any bells." Dawn sighed. "I grew up with muggles, remember?" She glanced over to Raven and Lily each, wondering if perhaps they knew. Was this something that she hadn't read in the text?

Remus's face darkened. "He Who Must Not be Named, is a horrible and evil wizard. He's killed countless people in the Wizard and Muggle world for sport and to gain power. His followers are horrible people too, who enjoy the pain they bring maybe as much as he does. Everyone fears You Know Who because he's most likely to be the most powerful wizard in the world. Only our Headmaster, Dumbledore can match him."

Dawn blinked and questioned the boy once more, "Why is he called, 'He Who Must Not Be Named?' or, 'You Know Who'?"

"Because people fear to say his real name, or the title he gave himself at least." Remus said in a hushed voice. "They think it's a curse," The professor has stepped out for a bit when another professor came to the door to give him something. The students took this opportunity to talk among themselves, but Remus whispered still and Dawn did the same. Lily was fixing up her notes and Tonks was telling Raven about Aurors who had become famous do to their amazing captures and kills of dangerous beasts and criminals. Dawn let her vision stray to the room to look on the faces of the students and then at Remus who had thought the subject was dropped.

"What is...what is his real name?" she said quietly. Remus snapped his head around, eyes piercing and fearful. One look told Dawn that even he dared not speak the name. When the class end bell rang everyone gave a huge sigh. Sirius whooped and jumped over the desk with James behind him. As the class departed for lunch, Dawn caught up to Remus and grabbed his arm, pulling him to face her as he walked down the hall.

"Remus!" she gasped. Remus looked at her quietly and tiredly. "I'm... I'm sorry I asked so much of you, thank you for your help. I know it was unkind of me to ask you to speak of the Dark Lord."

Remus's face softened. "It's no problem Dawn, but if you really are so curious, maybe you should go to the library instead." Dawn nodded.

"Remus! Come on!" called Sirius and James wavedf their friend over. Remus excused himself and ran over to them. They laughed about the class, Remus even joining in somewhat and ran into the Great Hall, passing through a ghost and yelling out in surprise.

"Pardon me," the ghost was saying to them, looking mournful as he floated away.

Sirius, James and Remus looked at each other, and then burst out laughing, clutching their sides as they went over to their table. They began to pile food onto their plates and wolf it down ravenously, though Remus again, had the decency to be a bit slower. Dawn had been staring up at the ceiling as the other girls went over to the Gryffindor table and begin to talk about their lessons and eat as well.

"Can you step aside, your blocking the hallway." said Lucius from behind her. She turned around and stared at his haughty expression. His group was behind him, including the rather large boys named Crabbe and Goyle. Dawn moved over to the right and smiled at them nervously, and was met with sneers. Lucius cooly moved a piece of fine silver hair from his face and smiled at the pale blond girl beside him, Narcissa, who was glaring up at Dawn from a lowered head.

"Don't mind the muggle-born, Narcissa," Lucius said, sarcasm spinning in with the words. "She's probably wondering what a ceiling is or a broom or perhaps the poor girl _still_ doesn't know what a Hufflepuff is." Narcissa shrieked with peals of laughter and the others behind them laughed as well. Lucius smiled cruelly at Dawn, but only for a moment because the smile suddenly fell from his face. Dawn was laughing too, her eyes squinted and her grin huge and covered by her hand. Her cheeks were slightly pinking and she had to take a deep breath to calm herself. Lucius was glaring at her, confused as the other Slytherins around him.

Dawn put her hands behind her back to hide their twitching and leaned forward a bit and then back, rocking on the spot.

"You're funny Lucius," she said, smiling still.

"What?" Lucius said a spark or red flashing on his cheeks in anger.

"And you know," she was saying putting a hand to her face and poking at her brow. "When you smile, smile and laugh, your left eyebrow arches just a bit more on the end near the side of your face, more so than the other eyebrow," her finger traced her own left eyebrow. "But it's strange, because when you laughed just then, you weren't really happy. So I wonder what it would be like when you were really happy…what that eyebrow would do," Lily was calling Dawn from within the Great Hall and Dawn smiled and waved. "Gotta go! Bye Lucius, Narcissa, Bellatrix, Crabbe, Goyle..." and she named each one of them with a smile and then skipped off to the Gryffindor table.

Narcissa turned to her dark sister who looked as bewildered as her. Some of the Slytherins were murmuring, wondering how she knew all of their names.

"Not from the ceremony?" Bellatrix muttered. Narcissa hesitantly put a hand on Lucius shoulder to ask how he was, but he jerked away and strode off stiffly. The others soon followed.

James leaned over to Sirius and whispered in his ear. "Why does Malfoy keep poking his eyebrows?"

Sirius shrugged, and looked at Dawn who was smiling at her plate. "What's with you?" he asked her. Dawn shook her head and smiled. Lily stood and stretched.

"We should head to Potions then, I'm done."

"Me too," Dawn said rising as well. James gaped at her.

"You didn't eat anything!" he exclaimed. Dawn frowned.

"That's not true," she said. "I ate that biscuit and some juice."

"But that's all you had on your plate!" James insisted.

"So ate it all," Dawn said finally gathering her things into her bag.

"I read a book once on people who starve themselves," Remus said slowly. "It's not pretty the way they look…worse than inferni, some of them,"

Dawn gasped, "The book!" She slung her bag over her shoulder and ran out the hall.

"What?" called Tonks.

"I think she forgot her Potions textbook." Lily said wiping her lips with a napkin.

The boys shrugged and headed off to the dungeons with the girls.

Dawn was running down the stairs with Severus Snape's book in her arms. Thanks to Remus, she remembered that the first year Gryffindors had Potions with the first year Slytherins, and _he_ would be there. She didn't want him to not have his book in class and hoped he hadn't ordered another one before she returned it. "So...where to now?" She asked out loud. None of her classmates or Slytherins in their first year were to be found wandering the halls, and looking at the grandfather clocks, class was about to start. She wandered around for a bit, looking for teachers or students to ask for directions, but the corridors were empty.

"Are you lost?" said a giggling vice from above her. Dawn looked up to see a rather stout and leering ghost floating above her, his lower half still coming through the wall.

She smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'm trying to find my potions class, do you know where to find it?" The ghost's grin grew even wider around his face. He twirled around in a circle and laughed gleefully.

"Of course I do!" he shrieked. "I can show you, little Hogwarty, yes I can!"

"Thanks!" Dawn said, running after him. They ran up some stairs to another floor and he pointed down a corridor.

"The second door at the end on the left!" he told her clutching his sides and spinning in the air.

"Thank you again!" Dawn said waving as she ran away.

"Bye bye!" he hollered after her.

Dawn counted the doors and opened the door on the left.

Inside a group of older students, with the Hufflepuff emblem embroidered on their robes along with the colours, turned from their work to look at her as she peered inside. They were turning animals into cups and teapots, and Professor McGonnagall looked up from her desk and papers. She raised any eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Urm..." mumbled Dawn "Is this...Potions?"

"Transfiguration, Detroit." the stern lady said. "I suggest you hurry on you way."

"Right," she said blushing. "Sorry. The class tittered and turned back to their work.

Professor McGonnagall stood and walked over tot he black board and started writing. "Pull out your quills and a foot of parchment, maybe more for you sloppy writers. You've tried the spell on your own, so now I want you to—" She was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Yes?" she called. Dawn appeared at the door,

"Potions?" she asked, and then gasped as he saw Professor McGonnagall at the board again.

"No Detroit, this is Transfiguration." she said, voice strained.

"Sorry!" Dawn said disappearing again. The class laughed a little louder this time and Professor McGonnagall had to clear her throat to get their attention.

"Like I was saying, you shall go into partners and try and fix their cups. Finish the spell or turn them back tot he original animal. Before you begin, copy your—" A knock was on the door again. Professor McGonnagall spun around as Dawn peeked inside yet again,

"P-Potions?" She squeaked.

"Detroit!" Professor McGonnagall said sharply, voice rising and struggling to stay calm. "This is _Transfiguration_ for fourth year _Hugglepuffs_! If you do not want me to deduct twenty points from Gryffindor in three seconds, I suggest you get to your class right now!!"

Dawn scurried from the door and down the hall, hearing the braying laughter from the class down the hall and Professor McGonnagall sharp yell for them to settle down. Dawn stopped running when she got to the stairs and clutched her stabbing chest. She leaned against the wall, small tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she clasped her arms around her sides and breathed thinly through her teeth. Her chest was still hurting, and whenever she leant against something it felt stabbing. She couldn't place what could be wrong with her.

The ghost appeared beside her again. "What's wrong girly?" he asked her, smirking. "Wrong class again?"

"I'm starting to think you don't know where potions class is at all," Dawn said looking at him and brushing her hair from her face. "I've been to the same class room three times!"

"Now down," said the ghost waving a stubby finger in her face. "You asked for my help did you not? You should listen more carefully!" Dawn stared at his smiling face and slowly nodded and stood to her full height with great effort. "Now!" the ghost said grinning with silver tears at the corners of his eyes. "You go right, left-left and down three stairs then up them again, spin around in a circle and go to the second last door on the left of the end of the hall. Got it?" Dawn nodded and started to head off when she fell into another ghost. She felt the cold rush through her and she shivered painfully.

"Hm?" said the ghost staring down at her sadly. "What's a student doing out and about when classes are going on?"

"I'm trying to find my class, but I think…I keep forgetting the directions this ghost keeps giving me," Dawn said pointing to the ghost behind her. The other ghost glared icily at the stout one.

"Peeves!" he roared. "Stop this nonsense!" Peeves the ghost laughed and flew off.

"Where did he go?" Dawn asked.

"Hopefully far away," the second ghost said. "He was leading you about in circles by the looks of it, Miss." the ghost sad gently. "Here, I'll help you." He led her down into the dungeons of Hogwarts and showed her the classroom door. "You'll be alright now?" he asked her. Dawn nodded and knocked softly. A voice inside told her to enter and she slipped inside.

"Hmm?" the teacher at the front said looking at her. "Dawn Detroit I assume?"

She nodded. "Your very late you know, I'll have to deduct five points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, even if it is your first day. Dawn bowed her head sadly and nodded. The class tittered a bit in their seats and the teacher hushed them with a raise of his hands.

"Take your seat, Detroit." he told her. "Where ever you can." Dawn looked around. Sirius and James were together, as was Tonks and Raven, and Lily and Remus were paired up too. The rest of the class were paired as well with mostly Slytherin to Slytherin and Gryffindor to Gryffindor. Everyone had a partner and their seemed to be no seats available. But then, she saw one seat. A chair slightly out and crooked, facing the seat beside it. On the crooked chair was a pile of books and a bag that was out their out of the way so the sole person at the table could have some space in his table.

Dawn felt a smile twitch at her mouth's sides and she clutched the book in her arms.

Severus Snape was busily scratching away at his parchment and looking at the board. He glared when he saw someone step in suddenly and blocked his view of the notes. He followed the words to see the person's face. Then something extraordinary happened.

His squinting eyes widened, until the whites of his eyes stretched and bulged out of their sockets. His sallow face turned even more pale and twitched into a horrified grimace. His head tilted back a bit, and just as quick as his face had lost its colour, it darkened and a growl clutched at his throat. He violently stood, his chair legs screeching against the stone floor as he fumbled backwards, almost crashing into the desk behind him where Lucius and Crabbe were seated.

Severus pointed a shaking finger at Dawn as she nervously stepped forward, unable to hide her delight in seeing someone familiar. "Back you!" Severus almost shrieked. The teacher raised an eyebrow from his desk and the class whispered between themselves.

"What's the problem Snape?" the teacher asked. "Move your things so Detroit can sit."

"Professor Slughorn, sir! I—I want to move!" Severus said in a strangled cry of protest.

Professor Slughorn looked amused, "Well of course, Snape. If you will switch with someone else so Detroit can have a seat then by all means. Who will sit with one of them?"

No one stirred in their seats, but Dawn didn't notice. She merely stood near Severus and waited, her thoughts bent solely on returning his book one way or another. Severus let out a struggled sigh and moved his things, not looking into the faces of his fellow Slytherins. When Dawn sat down he reached over and pushed her chair as far away from him as possible and then moved his chair to the very end of the opposite end of the table. He then placed his bag between them.

"Um...Severus?" Dawn whispered taking out her books and clenching her hands around his book. Professor Slughorn was writing things on the board and asking them to go to the cupboards and take out some ingredients for the practice potion they would work on for the rest of the class. They had apparently gone over lab safety; Dawn would sorely miss those instructions. She'd just have to be extra careful then. Severus shot a cold stare at Dawn's faltering smile and wide eyes after she had spoken.

"Don't bother me, don't touch my things and don't move your chair nearer to me than it is already, got it?"

Dawn nodded timidly. "But," she started.

"Will one of you get the ingredients written on the board?" Slughorn asked them.

Dawn shot from her seat.

"I'll get it," she told Severus and stepped off to get the ingredients but then turned back, realizing the book was in her hand. "Oh!" she handed him his book before she departed. "You dropped this in King's Cross. I'm sorry I wasn't able to get it back to you before then." She smiled and ran over to Lily and Raven, asking them to help her gather the ingredients.

Lucius smirked from behind Severus, "_Ooooh_!" he chuckled. "She kept your book for _so_ long, Snape. How _thoughtful_."

"Shut up," growled Severus. Lucius just laughed harder and went to the cupboards.

Dawn couldn't remember exactly what they were making, or what it was they were supposed to do with it. Severus wouldn't let her speak to him at all, and tried his best to ignore her as the afternoon went by. He made the potion in her cauldron that they were sharing and would give her small, menial tasks to do and then scoff at her.

"You have to cut it near the end of the blade," and "Stir it clockwise! Clockwise! Don't you _know_ what that _means_?" as well as "Don't look at it like that, it's supposed to smell that way, Stupid."

Severus never seemed to call Dawn by her name; he just called her Stupid. She wondered if he even knew her name or had just forgotten. Dawn's smile had left her face a very long time ago, she was concentrating so hard to follow her partner's instructions, that her brow was furrowed in concentration as she made sure to stir the potion the right number of times. Smoke was rising from the small fire heating the cauldron and the fumes filled Dawn's face. Her eyes began to water and she almost asked Severus if he would like to take over the task of stirring, but remembered she was supposed to keep quiet and constantly stir. But the now purple fumes built around her face and surrounded her like a cloud. Dawn began to cough and tried to speak, but Severus silenced her and continued to write his notes Dawn assumed were from other classes. He hadn't seemed to notice the smoke just yet, as he was far away from the potion.

"Watch that cauldron!" Professor Slughorn called from up front at another student's cauldron. "Turn down the heat!"

"Stupid!" Severus hissed using his wand to help extinguish the flames. The purple fumes shrank to small circular puffs. Dawn rubbed her itching eyes and stifled a small sneeze.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, looking at her hands and then sneezing yet again.

"You don't have to apologize to the likes of _him_," said James from beside her where he and Sirius sat. Snape looked over with a frown, and it was suddenly clear that he disliked the seating arrangements just as much as the two Gryffindor boys. James leaned over across the space between the desks and glared at Severus, who glared in return.

"You didn't do anything wrong, it's Snape over there that should have been watching the temperature while you stirred. It's called _teamwork_ Snape."

"Here-here!" called Sirius from beside James. "But then, I doubt anyone could cope with that prat," He gestured to a glowering Severus. Severus sneered at them and went back to the potion. Dawn didn't say anything, but cut up some more ingredients.

She stared at her work dully. Severus eventually shook her out of her stupor and poked at the notebook, telling her to start copying the notes he was taking on the potion. Dawn wondered when he had time to do that in between working on his other homework, then realised that he hadn't opened up a single textbook besides his potions one. He had been taking notes for her to copy the entire time.

"Thank you!" she whispered.

"Shut up!" Severus said turning away so she couldn't see his face. "We both have to do them, and if you haven't and have to stick around trying to remember everything, _I'll_ get in trouble for it," He pretended to read his text after, while she put in the last bit of ingredients with a big smile, hardly noticing what she was doing.

"Huh—?" she said as the cauldron made a funny squeezing sound. Severus glanced at it and then gave a yelp and sprang out of his chair.

"_You idiot_! What did you do?!"

"I just—put in the rest of the roots—"

"No! _Those_ are the roots!" he said pointing to some shrivelled up twigs near the end of the table. "You just put in the newt's tongue!"

"Oh... I thought they felt sort of squishy..."

"Stupid! Do you know _why_ they go after the roots?" he was screaming. Everyone had turned to look at them and Slughorn was coming over looking annoyed. Dawn's face was blank. "It's because it's highly reactive! Put in the roots! Quick!" Dawn gasped and stuffed in the roots and tried to stir the cauldron, but the stirring stick had melted into the now purple goo.

Behind them Lucius was backing slowly away with the hugest grin on his face. Everyone else was screaming and scurrying around, Lily telling them to get to the back of the room. James called for Dawn to run but she stared frozen at the spot, staring at the now violently shaking pot of potion.

"Move!" Severus said throwing himself at her just as the potion exploded in Dawn's cauldron.

When everyone looked up, only professor Slughorn was standing up covered in gobs of purple sludge. It was rolling thickly down his hair and he angrily wiped it out of his face. Severus climbed off of Dawn, his entire back covered in the mess, but Dawn managed to come out clean.

Slughorn was looking furiously at Severus and Dawn who sat on the floor, peeking over the edge of the table to stare at their teacher. Dawn peered up at her now shattered and half melted cauldron and things covered in the slime. She slowly poked at it with a finger, finding it to be squishy like the salamander tongue. Everyone who had been drenched in the goo was silent, except for James and Sirius who were on their sides laughing like lunatics throwing the goo around like snowballs.

* * *

Notes!

I love writing silly stuff...like the thing with Peeves...a classic sort of joke but brilliant nonetheless...as Jeremy would say...I wonder what's up with Jeremy?? We'll just have to wait until Dawn writes him a letter now won't we? ^ ^

Ah yes...for those who read closely I changed the name of Jeremy's band back a ways...it's now called "AbraCadaver"...Ku-chan helped me by giving me a list of band names…we both agreed that "Against the Barricade" was a little.....eh. So it's changed now! I like this better! Has a twist on the whole magic/muggle thing. Hee. Anyway...another chapter! YAY! This is, as a reminder, all old stuff that I'd written before. Once I get writing on the new stuff...loading might take longer...I also have to work on my other stories too...or I shall be squished. Sigh....I wish I more time...honestly I could write until my fingers dropped....but school...ah the schooling of school. I want to go to Hogwarts...life is better there. It's an OPTION to take math....sigh.

Until next time! Review...please? ^ ^

-INARI


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

I Hate It When You Hate Me

* * *

Professor Slughorn took away twelve points away from Slytherin and Gryffindor both and Dawn and Severus had detention on Friday in the afternoon that was usually given off to students. This was a fell blow to Dawn, who had hoped to spend her afternoon writing Jeremy a letter. But there was little time to think of that until later; the mayhem in the dungeons took priority in her mind.

Some of the children had been covered in the gunk at their feet and found it was easy to remove, but it made them itchy and irritable. Most went to Madam Pomfrey, the witch who ran the Hospital Wing, for some ointment and were alright afterwards. Severus however was scratching his neck throughout the dinner hour and refused to get any ointment at all seeing as it would stop sooner or later. He avoided his classmates and they avoided him it seemed. When in contact with each other, it always ended with him being pushed into a wall. Lucius had developed a rash on his thin hands when he shielded his face from one stray splatter, but the purple slime managed to get at his ears, so he was constantly covering them up with his long strands of silver hair, putting on so much ointment he ended up taking some from Crabbe and Goyle. He received many coos of comfort from the girls in Slytherin but no sympathetic nods from the boys, many of who had gotten worse rashes then him.

James and Sirius seemed to consider the slime great fun and had even stuffed some in their pockets, not minding the itch when they wore their dragon hide gloves. They constantly asked Dawn how she had managed to pull it off, thinking she might have planned the explosion all along.

"I'm writing to Jeremy about this! Can I?" he asked Dawn, reminding her then of her lost afternoon. She didn't answer him though, for she was staring glumly at her plate. She had received the most horrible look from Severus when they had been told off by Slughorn. She tried to explain that it was her entirely her fault, but the Potions master would have none of it. It was the other partner's job to watch the potion carefully, he said sternly, and Snape hadn't been doing that.

Remus sighed at the table over his friend's prodding at the slime with their wands. He had managed to be one of the first to get to the back of the room, along with Lily, so they had no injuries. Tonks and Raven however were scratching their hands and ankles all throughout the meal before the ointment kicked in. Many of the first year Gryffindors glared at Dawn throughout the meal, but some had found it funny, seeing it was the Slytherins that got the worst of the attack since most had been slow and had been knocked down to the ground by a distressed Lucius and lumbering Crabbe and Goyle. It didn't help her regardless; the Slytherins had reserved a special glare for her too all through dinner.

Dawn managed to look in them all in the eye, with an apologetic and shaky smile. Since she was across the hall on the opposite end, the majority of them had eventually turned their hatred to someone they would see more often; Severus. He ignored them all and avoided their glares. Dawn noticed that he didn't seem to be popular in any of the houses, and felt sad that she couldn't just walk over and apologize upfront. He had made it clear after the ordeal that she was to stay as far away from him as she could, and not to talk to him if they met, and that their detention would be "the most horrible experience of (her) life," She didn't doubt that. But how could she not speak to him when she needed to apologize and they would be having detention together? Not only that, but they would have to meet soon on Wednesday when they had flying classes and then again on Friday morning when it was Potions class again. For the most part however, she was busy with homework and finding time to go out by herself and explore.

The grounds of the school, which she tried to visit at lunch and in the early hours of the evening before curfew, were wondrous. She loved the rolling grass and the piles of leaves that towered taller than Hagrid, the ground's keeper, who made them and who she learned was actually much younger than she had realized under his massive beard. He had seen her from time to time while she sat by the lake, and told her to watch the waters in case a mer-person popped up. She had spent and hour once staring at the water, but found nothing but the ripples cast by the leaves. Noticing them she instead spent most of her time watching James and Sirius and the other boys after classes jumping into the piles while she, sat alongside Lily and talked to her brightly about their first few days and the marvels of the magical world. The beauty of the grounds around her made Dawn feel anxious and if her hands were a wash cloth, they would have wrung themselves dry. She wanted to open her trunk and pull out her most important things. But not yet…there were still much to discover, and much planning to be made before she could sit down comfortable for hours and work.

Dawn had met up with Nearly-Headless Nick, the ghost that had helped her from before, again on Tuesday. He took her on a tour of the school along with an excited Lily when she and Dawn had spotted the ghost looking sadly at the sky through the school windows. He said he was remembering what it had been like to ride on horseback over the hills and plains, and the girls promised him that if they saw a ghost horse, he would be the first to know. He laughed at this with another sad smile, which made them think that perhaps there weren't any horse ghosts at all. Dawn doubted she could remember where everything was if she went by herself, so she was glad Lily was there to chase after Nick with her. After a long evening of exploration and then finally returning to the tower, Dawn felt a little more confident that she could get around on her own and would have something to consider if she ran into Peeves again. Tuesday had been so enjoyable, that she wasn't prepared at all for the coming tomorrow, which ended dreadfully.

Wednesday's flying class went terrible towards the end, although it started off well enough. Madam Hooch was the most interesting teacher Dawn had ever seen, with strange cat-like eyes and by far the youngest of the faculty from what she could tell. It was later explained that this was her first year at Hogwarts, but she seemed no less confident with her classes. Hooch had them lined up with the school brooms, a new stock this year she had said, at their sides and told them to place their hands above the left sides of their brooms and tell them to get up…by saying _up_. Most of the children had trouble, but those that had the knack for it had their brooms up almost instantly. Raven, Tonks and James were some of these from Gryffindor. Lucius looked pleased when his came with a good growl. Dawn stared at hers in wonder, wondering if it was like the Sorting Hat. Would it talk to her if she talked to it? So she began,

"Hello there...I'm not sure if you're a girl or a boy but, I'd just like to say hello I guess. Now I know you've been in the shed for quite some time, but I was wondering if you could, oh I dunno, come up to my hand or something. We're just practicing you know. I probably won't have the guts to fly on you just yet. That must be awful by the way, having someone sit on you, I'm so sorry.

Lily stared at Dawn with bewilderment from beside her. Lily's broom had as much progress as Narcissa Black, a beautiful Slytherin girl, to which the progress was hardly anything at all. Down the row Severus got his up after a few glares, and Remus and Sirius had similar results, without all the scowling though. Most of the others were still having difficulty. Dawn thought maybe she needed to introduce herself.

"Uh…I'm Dawn Detroit by the way…up?" she tried. The broom did not move.

"Green," Madam Hooch instructed Raven, who was walking by the Gryffindor children, "You, Potter, and Tonks help out those who are having trouble; as should the rest of you who've made it to getting your broom off the ground. Go on now, help out the others," Tonks and Raven went over to Dawn and Lily and tried to tell them how to get their brooms sorted out.

"Uh…it's kinda warm feeling," Raven was trying when Lily demanded to know what she was doing wrong. "Maybe you've got to have more edge in your voice or something?"

"Just…stop talking to it, Dawn," Tonks laughed. "It's not helping,"

"Hmmm…" Dawn sighed.

"Just tell it to go up," Tonks said.

"Hmmmm…up?" Dawn tried. "Up? UP? Uuuuup. UUUUUP… UP! _Up_!" The broom moved a little, encouraging Dawn. "Up!!" she cried. The broom snapped like a whipping branch into her hands. Dawn was so startled that she flung the broom away from her with a shrill cry. It soared through the air and landed, hilt first, into Severus's head. He fell over, knocked out cold.

"Oh no—!!" Dawn yelled, running over to him. The classes couldn't help but laugh. Dawn was bent over Severus who was not moving to say the least and felt tears spring to her eyes. Madam Hooch sighed and pushed the girl aside and waved her wand over Severus. His dark eyes fluttered open and rolled around.

"Better head off to the infirmary," Madam Hooch said. "Check out that bump on your head."

"Wh-whose broom…?" Severus muttered, before his eyes rolled to the hand that was holding the familiar object that had attacked him. He then saw that it was Dawn that held it. He looked almost too groggy to do much, but he managed to rise to his feet and glower at her. She opened her mouth to say something, but it ended up opening and closing wordlessly like a fish when his glare grew colder. She said nothing to him; as he would have liked it, and let him slink off.

"Dawn!" James yelled bounding up to her. "That was amazing! Got to add that to the letter too, Jeremy'll love it!!" Dawn let her shoulders slump down and stared at the ground. Class was over, thankfully very soon after the disaster, and for the rest of the evening Dawn stayed in her room, doing her homework slowly and sadly. She took a loaf with her from the Great Hall and munched on it slowly and bitterly as she did her work.

"I'm doing everything wrong," she moaned to her friend.

"Not everything," Lily sighed from her bed. "You've just got to stay away from hazardous materials."

"Poor Severus…" Dawn lamented.

"Hmm…" Lily sighed. "Not helping his attitude is it? But he was always ill tempered and cranky and lonesome without you exposing it." She flipped her fingers through her book and brushed the end of her feathered quill on her face. She hesitated for a moment before attacking her paper with a flurry of scratches.

Dawn turned to Lily from where she knelt at her bedside, reading their History of Magic notes. Lily had been greatly disappointed earlier that day when they all realized that History was _not_ a very fun class at all, for it was taught by a man, or a ghost, more boring than their Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. Dawn was finding their first unit fairly easy though. She had a knack for remembering faces and names and people after all. She thought slightly of the time when she had named all of the crew members of Lucius's lot that day. She couldn't smile proudly now though, she was still thinking over Severus's hated expression, more vivid now than any face she remembered yet. She didn't know someone could look so angry.

Dawn was thinking over what Lily had said. "What do you mean he was 'always' like that?" she asked then. Lily didn't glance up as she spoke,

"We live in the same town; I'd see him from time to time." Lily said. "Didn't know him that well, but he always stalked around with that sour expression of his. Never thought to ask what was troubling him because it could've been something as small as mud on his shoe. But his family was always quarrelling, from what my parents told me."

"Hmm…" Dawn sighed. "That's too bad,"

"Hmm..." Lily repeated. "It was surprising to see him on the Express…I wonder if his parents were magic folk that lived in the muggle world…or if he was muggle born?"

"Dunno..." Dawn sighed then even more mournfully. "Maybe I'll ask him one day…if he doesn't hate me for all of our school years...it's not like I want everyone to like me…I just…can't stand the thought of someone hating me, especially if I don't even know why!" Lily stared at her for a moment and then rubbed her eyes, sighing, and looking for some outlet of escape.

"Pass me your notes," Lily said. "Let's see if what you wrote made any sense through all of that mumbling,"

On Thursday evening Dawn went outside and she found herself staying mostly by the shores of the lake that surrounded Hogwarts again. She would dip her hands in the water now, feeling braver, and draw out the water and watch it pour from their fingers. She was beginning to think that there were no mer-people, but it was a lovely idea, she decided. She had brought some of her things with her this time, and decided that since the sunset was so beautiful that autumn day, that she would capture it; her first picture done in Hogwarts. She didn't cry this time however. After all, she was only sketching it with pencil, not painting.

She started with the overall sketch of the clouds and the hill laden land. Her hand moved quickly over her page, sketching soft lines for the meantime, her face glancing up every now and then. The day wasn't windy, but the clouds were still moving and the sun was setting even faster than she realized most days when she found herself lost at watching the glowing fires of orange and red from countless miles away in the dark sky.

She gently felt the grooves of her pencil on the paper. She had been sketching so hurriedly that she had used more force than planned.

"I'll have to trace it then…" she murmured. "On the window or something…or imprint it…if I find a wooden table that isn't so old," She looked up to the water and thought she saw a ripple, but it must've been just the light. She sighed and lay down on her back, staring at the sky, and wondering if witches painted. She had seen the paintings throughout the castle, and although they moved like the photos in her texts, they were paintings still, no matter how lifelike the portrait of a lady of gentleman might be. What spell made them move? Dawn suddenly had an incredible yearning to find out. Would the clouds in her painting of the sunset move? Would a bird pass by overhead as it had moments before as she thought to herself? If she painted a person, say Lily, would this painting-Lily speak to her?

When it was getting dark, Hagrid found Dawn dozing on the beach shore. He gruffly told her to return to her dorm before Professor McGonnagall caught her about. She blinked at him and looked about; the darkening area made her unsure suddenly. He noticed her glance at asked if she'd like him to walk her back to the more familiar halls?

"Oh would you?" Dawn asked. "Thank you, Hagrid!" She scurried inside after his long lumbering walk and bumped into James and Sirius when they had almost to Gryffindor Tower. They were sneaking round the halls while Dawn had gotten ahead of Hagrid. She nearly toppled over with a yelp but James grabbed her arm and held her fast.

"Shhh!" they said with fingers to their lips, fear and excitement dashing across their livid features.

"Hagrid's behind me." Dawn whispered as she turned around and pointed to the looming man glaring at them.

"Get yer scrawny hides back to yer dormitories!" he barked at them, exasperated to see the boys. They seemed to be on familiar grounds already.

The two boys yelped and ran off to the portrait of the fat lady. "Polly woggles! Polly woggles!" they cried to her.

"Hmph, indeed!" she huffed and swung open. Dawn went in after them with a friendly wave to Hagrid before she slipped inside.

"What were you two doing?" Dawn asked the two boys, following them up the stairs after they passed in through the common room. There was only an older couple snogging on one of the couches when they came in, and the fires were still burning but were quieter looking, as if urging the students to go to sleep.

"Well...we wanted to put a bucket of water on the edge of Filch's door." James was saying nonchalantly.

"The janitor?" Dawn asked him.

"Yeah," said Sirius. "He's such a bloody old geezer."

"Picking on us just because we stepped on Mrs. Norris's tail on the second day." James sighed.

"Or maybe it was when we tripped him when he turned the corner after chasing us when we turned a painting of a broken bowl upside down and made the plate fall apart??"

"Or maybe it was when we spilled the dirty mop water down the stairs and it dribbled on his face below?"

"Complete accidents of course."

"Naturally."

Dawn burst out laughing and they grinned at each other.

Remus appeared in their doorway, already in his pyjamas. He stared out them tiredly. "Why are you talking so loud outside the door? Did you plant your stupid bucket prank?"

"Stupid?" Sirius said, baffled. "Its sheer genius, Remus and, a classic."

James nodded his agreement and turned to Dawn, "Right?"

"Jeremy did that one on his manager, it worked, but only once, of course," she told them. The boys grinned, except for Remus who squinted at her in the dim candlelight.

"Why are you in the boys' dormitory?" Dawn looked around her and realized that she was almost to the landing. James and Sirius hadn't seemed to notice the whole affair either.

"How odd…" Dawn smiled. "Sorry, I'll get going,"

"That's weird," Sirius was mumbling. "James and I tried sticking that goo in Evan's hair…but we couldn't get up the stairs…some sort of spell,"

"Well of course there was a spell," Remus sighed, motioning for Dawn to leave. She said her goodnights and trotted down the stairs.

"What do you mean '_of course_'?" James was saying behind her.

"Just get to bed you dolts," Remus muttered dragging Sirius and James inside by the heads.

In the girl's dormitory, Dawn quietly opened the door and put one arched foot inside. When she closed the door behind her and turned to creep into her bed, she was met by, some sort of flying object that attacked from the side. Dawn was thrown against another bed, which surprisingly was not filled with the occupant, and promptly flew through the curtains and crashed to the floor, landing on her bottom.

"Ooh…" she mumbled, rubbing her sorry bottom.

"Raise your wand," said a voice from the darkness.

Dawn blinked, recognizing the voice. She felt a smile turn her mouth after it trembled once from sudden fear. She spoke then in a very serious voice, saying, "I don't have it, it's in my trunk. But if you'll allow me to get it…." The voice burst out laughing and Tonks and Raven appeared from under the dark bed covers that Dawn had mistaken for shrouds of night. One of them reached over to turn on the bed light of the bed Dawn had fallen in and out of.

"You left your wand in your trunk?" Tonks said clutching her sides and the pillow she had hit Dawn with. "You dolt! You're a witch, what if you get attacked by a…whatever in this school?"

"I was told that this school was relatively safe," Dawn said gesturing around her as she rose to her feet.

Tonks raised a finger, "Relatively," she repeated with the same grin. Beside her, Raven grinned.

"Oh well, you don't really need a wand for a— pillow fight!" And she attacked Dawn and Tonks both with a fury of pillow and pyjamas sleeves. Dawn was knocked over again, hadn't seen that one coming, but Tonks managed to hold her ground.

"Traitor!" Tonks laughed and turned to her friend. Dawn grinned and slunk on the ground by them to where she slept. She passed by Lily's bed, and in the new light, found her to be inside of it, not nearly under the covers, and reading a text book with a sour face. She was muttering something as she glared at the text when Dawn grabbed her pillow. She was watchful of her back for attacks by the others, although Tonks and Raven were beating the living daylight out of each other with their fluffy weapons. Dawn asked Lily,

"Want to join in?"

"No." Lily replied curtly as if she had been waiting for that very question, her green eyes flashing in the dark. "It's stupid, pointless and above all childish,"

"Aren't we children?" Dawn asked, smiling kindly. Lily didn't have to time to even reply, for Tonks and Raven had joined forces again after wordlessly acknowledging the other's skill, and attacked Lily from the other side of the bed.

"Fear our joined powers!" Raven laughed as she bombarded Lily with smacks.

Lily managed to roll off the beds' opposite side and hid under it, telling them with a raised and angry voice to stop their game. Dawn tried to listen, but was lost in the flurry of pillows raining down at her.

"Lily," she gasped, falling onto her back and holding up her pillow as a shield above her. "Help me? Ouch!"

Lily glowered at them all and refused to take part. But that only lasted a moment because Tonks had somehow found her ankles and Raven came up from behind once more and bashed her on the head with her cushion. All was silent for a moment when Raven bit back a choking laugh.

Lily stared at the floor for a moment, as Raven breathed in and out, quite slowly, and Tonks stood over her prey, the fallen Dawn, who clutched her sides and stopped laughing instantly.

"You," Lily said, reaching to her bed with a quivering hand. "You fiend!" and she grabbed her pillow and started attacking Raven brutally.

They laughed and rolled on the floor. They won and lost their territories of the pillow war and became dizzy from swinging them around in a circle, trying to bash as many people as they could. In the end, the teams had switched to Raven and Dawn, and Tonks and Lily.

"Hah!" Tonks breathed heavily. Sweat gleamed on all of their brows and they didn't notice or care. "I've got the tactician!"

"Hah! Yourself!" Raven huffed, "I've got–well, mine's better than yours!"

"Oh?" said Tonks, raising her pillow above her head. "How so?"

Raven laughed, "Go forth Dawn!"

"Huh? Oh, alright..." Dawn blinked, seemingly recalling a similar situation of one pillow fight with Jeremy, a girlfriend of his and her younger sisters that she planned to dump with Dawn before they went out. They didn't really go out though; they all fell asleep after the pillow fight. Dawn walked over to a rigid Lily and dropped her pillow at the other girl's feet. Lily stared at Dawn, bemused and unsure. "Before that I guess…here!" Dawn said. "My pillows a bit harder than yours, so you can have it."

Lily blinked and watched Dawn's face, unchanging from her usual gentle smile, and found nothing odd. It was most likely something the girl would do. And what on earth could she and Raven be planning by having Dawn discard her own pillow? Lily picked up Dawns pillow, but Dawn and Raven, who leapt over, suddenly put a foot on it each.

"Hah! We're all touching the pillow; therefore Lily is on our team!" Raven declared.

"What?!" laughed Tonks, "That's not fair!" Raven gave a fair hearted, mocking sort of laugh with her hands on her hips.

"Join us, Tonks, there's no saving your grounds now. It's over, admit defeat!"

"NEVER!" Tonks roared and leapt into battle once more.

Professor McGonnagall came in soon after the second wave to yell in her nightgown at them and force them to go to bed, as it was well past midnight already. But they had battled for a good long hour, and had been figuring out a way to bewitch some of the furniture to battle over their newly claimed conjoined territory, when McGonnagall came in, so she had to sort that out as well. By the end of it they had lost Gryffindor five points.

They were all exhausted, and nearly everyone fell asleep instantly, but Dawn stayed awake. Her eyes searched out the darkness and she looked out her window to the night. She sighed heavily and forced her eyes to close, only to open them again moments later when she heard a light pecking on the window near her. She fell silently out of her bed and opened up the window. Cobwebs hopped out from the windowsill with a small mouse in her beak. Dawn twisted her face at the sight of it, and almost on cue, her little owl gulped it down before hopping onto the bed beside Dawn. The girl stroked her tawny owl and let her snuggle in the warmth of her bed from the cool of the night air. Cobwebs made grateful cooing noises for receiving the attention and Dawn sighed a little with content. But then she choked on it, and remembered what tomorrow was: Potions and her detention with Severus.

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Notes!

Well now it has been a while hasn't it? Looks like I updated my story before Ku-chan did...but I have some catching up to do...like...a lot of catching up to do, story years wise I mean. Poor little Dawn, I'm so mean to her. But she goes over things too much in her head. Ah....oh well. I'm looking forward to the detention chapter, even though I have no idea what it is I shall be doing...what can I make them do?? Probably cleaning...because teachers aren't original in their punishments so why should I be? - -;;

Readers might have noticed that the Potter world is being altered here....well its fanfiction so it was bound to happen but...yeah. Snape and Lily never really hit it off in my story...why? Well because it'll cause problems for me down the line and also because, hey....what IF they never really met, if he didn't watch her like a cat to a mouse and never really bounded out of those trees in his funny little clothes? What if he treated Lily practically the same way he treated Petunia, and never really knew about Lily being a witch or didn't exactly care? I guess....something like this then, eh? Wells....guess that's it.

Sirius and James crack me up...

-INARI


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer:

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InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

A Touch of Sunlight

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Chapter Ten

Squishy Tongues and Pallet Knives

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It was that frightening thought that prevented Dawn from getting a good night's sleep. She had planned to sleep, really sleep, without waking up at the crack of dawn and doing what she loved to do. She didn't sleep a wink, and when Dawn woke up to see the dawn, no pun intended, she felt as if she had just set down her red head upon the pillow and then was forced to lift it off the bed moments later. She moved about the room, still just a bit earlier than anyone else, and got ready in a sluggish manner. She went down the stairs, which thankfully didn't turn and swerve somewhere else, and made her way to the main hall. She sat down and happened to find Remus there, looking over a reading book and finishing the last couple pages with a small snap of the binding. He glanced at her and smiled as he wished her good morning.

She mumbled hers', her eyes not exactly focussed on him. He stared at her with a worried face for just a moment, and then gathered that she was just tired. "Sleepy still?" he asked then, pouring enough juice into his half filled cup to top it off.

"Yes…" she sighed, and began to slowly butter some toast that would be her entire breakfast. "You know…I thought that I'd just…fall asleep so quickly after—" she yawned for a moment before continuing, "—we finished our pillow fight, but that wasn't the case at all,"

"What kept you up?" Remus asked after setting down another half emptied glass.

"I have…detention…with Severus today…" she mumbled, and then her eyes suddenly filled with a sort of strange glaze of understanding at what she had just said. It dawned upon her, no pun intended, and she slammed her head onto the table, inches beside her plate. Remus jumped a little in his seat at the sound of the clatter.

"Oh…" he finally said when she didn't move for a moment, "Snape…right…sorry about that,"

"Not your fault…mine…put in the tongue before the roots…tongue before the root…tongue is squishy…not root…"

"Uh…Dawn?" Remus cleared his throat, feeling a bit awkward.

"Gotta get a new cauldron…haffta use Severus's…squishy tongues…"

"Severus's what?" Remus blinked.

"What's wrong with her?" James said coming up behind Remus to sit at the table, with no Sirius in sight for once, or perhaps, just yet. Remus turned to him with a hopeless sigh.

"She's, I assume, wallowing in misery over her detention,"

James's face brightened, "Oh yeah! That's right! You're the first girl in our year to get detention, Sirius and I were the first boys, cool huh?"

Dawn gave a small sob into her plate.

"Oh come out of it Dawn!" James said patting her back across the long table. He almost knocked over Remus's juice. "It's not that bad."

"He hates me…" Dawn sobbed then. Remus and James looked at each other.

"Huh?" James said.

"Slughorn?" Remus guessed aloud. They looked to Dawn and found her nibbling on her toast now, her eyes staring dully, brimming with tears, into the distance. She sniffed a little and didn't answer them, because it seemed that she hadn't heard them.

The girls soon came with Sirius walking a little ahead of Raven, smugly laughing at her angry protests. Lily was shaking her head and Tonks was beside Raven, helping her in her arguing. James looked over to them with a grin. "Whatcha do this time, Sirius?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," the black haired boy grinned.

"That not true!" Raven snapped, pushing him aside as she went to sit at the table. "The creep pushed me into a revolving staircase and sent me to practically the other side of Hogwarts with no way back!"

"I was on the staircase too," Tonks told them. "If Lily hadn't come along and….I don't know what she did exactly, but she helped us get back and if she hadn't we would've been late for class and Slughorn would've given _us_ detention!"

Dawn gave a small sob and burred her hid her face inside an empty bowl.

The squabblers looked over to her in confusion and Lily cleared her throat, trying to draw attention away from the girl. It was clear to her that Dawn was still moaning over her detention and having someone hate the very slime in her guts, so she said:

"It was nothing really, I just watched the pattern before hand and saw that another staircase on their side was going to be turning over to another landing and staircase leading back to Gryffindor Tower…I had taken it before when coming back from the library,"

"Huh," James said, tilting his head. "Wow Lily…you're so…you're such a…"

She turned to him, one eyebrow rose as she glanced at him with a half curious face.

"Such a nerd," He finished, face as innocent as an angel. Despite that, Lily stiffened and promptly drew out her wand. This took him a back, as probably no one had seen that coming. And she waved it at him, muttering something hardly anyone caught. Except for Remus and he smiled and shook his head.

James patted his arms, face and torso, looking about him, wondering what had happened.

"What was that?" he said, relieved to find nothing wrong with his face.

"Justice," Lily sniffed.

"What? What do you mean?" he said.

She smirked plainly and walked to Dawn, tugging her along. "Come on Dawn, get out of it; you're going to spoil your day,"

"Don't worry about that, it's already happened…" Dawn mumbled. Lily gave her a light tap on the head with her wand before putting it away to adjust her bags with free hands. "Sorry," Dawn sighed.

"Detention won't be that bad, just boring,"

"How would you know? Have_ you_ ever gotten one before?" Tonks asked beside the other girls with Raven, who had a buttered bagel her mouth and a muffin in her hand.

"Well….no," Lily said. "But I've—"

"Wfread it in a frook?" Raven asked, her mouth full of food. Lily's face pinked slightly. Raven swallowed and turned to Dawn. "So I've been wondering," she swallowed again before continuing, "Why don't you sleep in ever? I mean it's not like you need to get up as early as you do. And last night was _exhausting_!"

"I just do," Dawn said, not really wishing to share her night time activities with anyone just yet. She was still getting used to having so many friendly and interesting people around her, that didn't exclude her as the orphanage children had. Not that it was their fault; they were muggles and well, didn't really know what to do with her. The hole in the wall had been such a horrible memory alone without their exclusion of her.

Dawn shoved these thoughts out of her head with a grimace. It wasn't good to keep mulling over things like that. Blinking, she realized that that's what she as doing with Severus hating her. She'd best put her mind off of that too; what would come would come after all, even though she sorely wished it would turn out better than the outcome she was dreading.

Raven shrugged and accepted Dawn's response. "Well, I guess the early bird gets the worm," she quoted.

"And Raven would know this by experience." Sirius had said when he trotted passed them. He received a swift kick on the of he leg on Raven's part, not forgetting their previous scuffle. Sirius slowed down and the girls went past him, as he tended to his throbbing leg. "Nice wand work by the way!" he called to them through gritted teeth, and then Lily looked behind her shoulder. "Remus got it undone after a bit, Leg-Locker curse right?"

Lily chuckled to herself and Raven leaned closer to ask, "What page was that on again?"

In Potions, Severus came in a bit later than most of the class, and it worried Dawn for a moment. But Lily rolled her eyes at Dawn's fidgeting and dragged Dawn with her to sit at the same table. Remus gladly gave up his seat for Dawn. Lily had pestered him about this one paragraph in a book they were both reading, arguing that it was the most significant part of the history, when he argued it was another. He looked as if he wanted to regroup before he started his verbal battle with Lily again, and he went to sit with another student who apparently shared a room with him, Sirius and James. Dawn settled down comfortably with Lily, grateful that Potions, for once, would be a little easier on her head.

When Severus finally came in, he glanced at his empty table, snapped his head over to spot Dawn sitting with Lily, and a smile dashed to his face. He practically skipped to his table and sat on his chair, placing his bag on the other. Severus never looked as smug before, wonderfully alone and able to stretch. Another student wandered into the classroom, just as Professor Slughorn came in, carrying his breakfast and a cup of tea with him. The student, who was from Gryffindor, stared at the only available seat and frowned, eyes scanning the room to the place where he usually sat, in Remus's spot. The boy didn't seem too happy to sit with Severus, who hadn't noticed that there was another student stepping in a bit late. Dawn had been glancing at the boy the entire time and watched as he went right up to Slughorn and talked to him.

When Professor Slughorn had finished listening, he looked up and frowned at Dawn and Severus.

"That's not where you too were sitting before," he said. "You as well Lupin,"

"No, it's not, sir," said Severus, realising what was going on. "But I'll move my things for him…" He sighed, still looking a bit cheery. He clearly would rather have this boy than Dawn beside him.

"No, no, don't bother for him. Detroit, you'll have to go sit back over there," the professor said, pointing to her old seat. He nodded to Remus, "You too Lupin, back to where you were." Remus nodded, a bit troubled to be back with Lily, but not as forlorn looking as Severus was. Remus slunk over to sit beside Lily, who was helping Dawn with her things, patting her back. When Remus sat down she turned to him, was silent for a moment, and then began furiously whispering at him pulling out her text. He gave a big sigh.

Dawn neared the table, feeling her knees wobbling. Before she could sit down however, Severus rose from his seat and spoke through clenched jaws, "Might I ask _why_, sir?"

"The people you sat with yesterday will be your lab partners for the rest of the year," Slughorn said. Severus's jaw dropped. "Did I forget to mention that?"

"Wh-wh-wh-wh—?!" Severus babbled, his stricken face so amusing to James and Sirius that they were laughing quietly to themselves.

"Why? Because it's easier for me to remember you names," Slughorn said, shrugging, and not seeming to care about the boy's horror. "Now move your things,"

The tardy boy had already settled down, only Dawn was left standing. Severus lowered his head, gave a huge sigh and moved his bag and books. Dawn, without having to be told, slid her chair to the very end, kept her things to herself and after Slughorn's small talk on their potion for the day; she went and got the ingredients. Slughorn had requested that the partners were to have one making the potion, with the other to aid them and draw the different stages of the concoction, which could be observed by the change of colour throughout the time it cooked.

"How are you at drawing?" James was asking Sirius as he sat back down with the ingredients.

"Let's just say that my people look like bananas, and my bananas look like Snape." Sirius said. They hooted with laughter. Severus ignored them and handed Dawn the parchment they were to draw on.

"I'm not letting you near my cauldron," he said thinly, not looking at her. Dawn nodded and started to sketch, actually happy to not have the weighty task of looking after a mixture that could explode in her face if she did something wrong. Slughorn had also given the class a stern talking to about being very careful with their potions from now on. Dawn and Severus's mishap had not given him a good first impression for their class.

At the end of class Dawn raised from her seat with the other students to hand the parchment in, but Severus stopped her. He looked it over and handed it back to her. She had expected him to snap at her, tell her she did it all wrong or at least sneer, but he did nothing but give a little "Hmph,", which she took to be his consent to hand it in. When she returned to their table, he had packed up and cleaned his cauldron. He looked over at her and glared, sending her the silent message, which she read perfectly: "Don't be late," He then turned without a word to anyone, leaving her to clean up the mess on their table.

At dinner James and Sirius were considering that perhaps detention with Severus wasn't going to be that great anymore. They recounted a detention…or three that they had taken together. Cleaning out the trophy case for Filch with no magic, mopping thirteen hallways, and catching chickens for Hagrid. They were tiring and gruelling jobs, but they had each other after all, and it usually ended with them walking out of it on the brink of sleep, but happy. With Severus, it was almost certain that there would be no grinning faces walking out of Slughorn's dungeons.

"Kinda forgot that it was Snape you were attending detention with," James said.

"Maybe we should rough him up a bit?" Sirius said. "Beat him down before he can do anything?" They glanced over to Severus, whose back was turned to them as he ate lunch. Dawn was shaking her head back and forth with a desperate face.

"Oh please don't!" she implored them, "He'll just get angrier,"

The boys thought this over and nodded, "Okay then," Sirius said.

"After," James declared.

"I don't want you picking on him at all!" Dawn exclaimed.

"What has he done to you anyways?" Raven asked the boys, fixing herself her second sandwich and pouring her third glass of juice. "I mean sure, he's a nasty little git, but he stays out of your way and everyone else's."

"But he's asking for it!" James said.

"Don't make enemies on your first week," Tonks warned him and Sirius. "They can last you a lifetime in some cases." The boy's shrugged.

"If he was an incredible wizard like Dumbledore, or a pure evil one like You-Know-Who, yeah, I might consider it," James said. "But he's not; he's just a little nose booger,"

Sirius snorted back a laugh at this comment and they continued eating.

Dawn's face scrunched together, "He's not…he's _really_ quite clever, I think,"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Dawn, you could find something nice to say about anyone, but that doesn't mean they're fantastic,"

"But it's true, we're just first years," Lily said, setting down her spoon into her soup bowl. James seemed to have forgiven her for the curse, having decided instead that he too would master it, and seemed almost grateful for being shown how it worked. "You never know how any of us will turn out," Lily said to the boys.

"I know I'm going to be incredible," James grinned. "I'll make sure of it,"

"My name is going to be in the Daily Prophet, almost every day when I'm older!" Sirius promised them. Most of the girls rolled their eyes at their claims; Dawn however was still under her dark cloud.

"Well what do you want to do Remus?" Sirius suddenly asked their quiet friend. The other boy looked up and smiled.

"Well, I don't know," he looked a little sad to the others as he spoke.

"You could do anything," James told him. "You're so bloody brilliant, mate," He said that with a small smile to Dawn, and she glanced up to notice it, and smiled back.

"Thanks," Remus was saying thoughtfully, "I kind of thought it would be interesting to teach people, being an instructor or professor,"

"Yeah I could see you being a really cool teacher," Tonks said helpfully. Remus grinned.

"Thanks," he said again for the second time. "What about you?"

"Something exciting!" she declared.

"Hmm," Lily nodded. "I wouldn't want to do anything boring,"

"Don't think anyone would," Raven smiled. "What about teaching Lily?"

"Just because I do well in class doesn't mean I want to be stuck in school for the rest of my life," Lily sniffed.

"Yeah," Tonks said, "Lily's a great tutor, but I'd hate to be your actual student, no offence,"

"None taken," Lily said.

"Urgh…could you imagine _Snape_ being a teacher?" Sirius shuddered, and James did likewise. The girls nodded, and Dawn considered this and decided that she agreed. They smiled at each other and reassured themselves; Snape would never _willingly_ be a teacher, so of course, it would never happen.

Remus had pulled back his sleeve and glanced at a watch of his. "Oh…you better get going Dawn," the girl looked up and the others glanced at the two of them. "I mean…"

"No I….I know," Dawn nodded, trying to put on a brave face.

"Good luck," they all said, and she nodded.

"You can leave your stuff with me," Lily said. "I'll take it up to our rooms," Dawn thanked her.

Trotting off, she saw that Severus had finished eating and was gone already. She better hurry then, she decided, remembering his silent message. She ran down the hall, her long red hair whipping after her. A painting of a large man lazing about called, lazily, to her,

"What's the rush…?"

"Detention!" she called back, and she didn't hear what he said next. She got to the dungeons, and peeked inside the doorway. Severus was already seated at their table, but made it clear by glaring at her as she came in, that she was not to take her usually seat. She sighed and sat at the front row, trying to imagine that she was outside playing in the leaves or writing a letter to Jeremy. Anything sounded better than having Severus's eyes bore into her back, which she was sure he was doing. At least Slughorn wasn't there yet, she was safe. But she'd rather be here alone.

Dawn had decided long ago that the entire incident was _entirely_ her fault, despite what others had said to her on the matter. They usually took her side and blamed Severus. Dawn knew that if she had just listened a little better to her partner, that none of this would have happened. She tried to imagine what it would have been like if they weren't sitting in a cold dungeon chamber thanks to her idiocy. Maybe they could have talked more? Maybe they could have at least been easygoing classmates and lab partners instead of…well they weren't enemies. Instead of her being a nuisance then. She wasn't even sure if Severus would allow himself to be friends with anyone. It wasn't that she had set out to be best chums with him either but…

"Good, you're both here," Slughorn had entered the room and looked at them with a sour face that was a bit softer than earlier. He looked as if he didn't want to be in his classroom either on a beautiful Friday afternoon. But he had promised them their detention, and that was exactly what he would give them. Dawn and Severus made their ways to his desk as Slughorn motioned them over. "Now," he said to them both, looking them each in the eye. Both looked determined, even though it was for different reasons. "It's not like I haven't had mishaps in the dungeons before, regardless of what year my students have been in. However, you caused everyone a lot of grief, and that I can not let by. Many of your classmates had to go to see Madam Pomfrey. So do you understand why I have to punish you two?"

Severus nodded robotically, and Dawn almost made a move to protest again, but she ended up nodding as well.

"Good," Slughorn said. "Now, as you have seen the cases in which you all get vials to mix certain ingredients outside of your cauldrons, before adding them to the main potion, yes?" They nodded. "These need to be cleaned. You shall be doing this, without magic, and then you shall be cleaning the undersides of the tables,"

Severus and Dawn grimaced. They had seen the undersides, decorated with Bertie Bott's Best Blowing Gum. It was worse than muggle gum, it just kept and kept. It never seemed to get hard enough to pick off; it was always sticky and moist.

"This, I will allow you to do with magic, if you know the cleaning spell of course, if not," he shrugged. "Good luck. You can leave when you are done," He left them to go do his other business, warning them not to cause any more trouble, as if he thought they were a foolish as James and Sirius on their detentions; maybe he had heard of them.

Perhaps it was because Dawn had gotten the ingredients so far in their classes, or that Severus had never gotten that good of a look at the cabinet, but when they opened it up to get out the vials, he let out a: "Ugh…" The entire cabinet, taller than the two of them by at least four feet, was filled enough to have the doors pop open if things weren't put away properly.

"Where's the ingredients then?" he said aloud. Dawn didn't answer, only pointed to another cabinet and then a backroom where the hazardous materials were kept. His shoulders slumped forwards and he reached for the first vial.

After two hours had passed they had nearly finished their work. The time had gone by quickly for Dawn, although her body felt the time passing each time she had to stretch or shift. She had gotten through more than Severus because he'd stop to complain and growl every now and then. But he was just a good a cleaner as she was, and she had had a lot of practice doing Jeremy's and her dishes. Perhaps Severus did a lot of cleaning at his house too? Dawn wanted to ask, but she was forbidden to speak, and even if she wasn't, she felt too nervous to ask.

They worked in silence, which was just bearable. Once they were done the vials, they carefully placed them back, but Dawn ended up knocking a few over as she tried to avoid bumping into Severus. "Stupid!" he growled, waving his wand over the broken pieces before she could even try to apologize without using her voice. She felt slightly like the Little Mermaid, except for the whole spell part, its terms, and the other _actually_ being decent to her. She was grateful that he had cleaned it up though. She wasn't even sure if he would abide to her muttering spells. He was very good at them, she observed, casting spells. It made her a little glad that he was living up to her words of him being clever. Like Raven, she didn't know exactly why James and Sirius picked on Snape. He was grumpy, curt and sour, but not going about his way to do anything to others. At least not that she had seen. Even though she knew that his helping her out was probably just to save his own skin and to prevent the mess from troubling him, she was still grateful for it.

They moved on to cleaning the tables. Both Severus and Dawn were fairly slender and near frail looking. It took both of them, on Severus's instruction, to turn over all of the tables and begin picking away at the gum. Severus was trying to remember a spell to blast them off, and Dawn was trying her best to scrape them away from the underside with a tool that had been given to her. She just managed to get half of a blob off when she pushed away some of her hair, and in the dim torches and dying sun, realized exactly what she was holding.

"Ah!" she exclaimed aloud. "This is a pallet knife!"

She froze and clamped a hand over her mouth. She felt ever muscle and every bone brace itself for Severus's shouting. But it never came.

"A what?" he said. Dawn glanced up and stared at him, hand still clamped over her mouth. She let it slowly fall to her lap. She was sitting on the other side of the table from him, and he stared at her. He was tired, but not irritable yet, and seemed to be taking a break from trying to remember the spell to zap the gum off.

"Uh…" Dawn began timidly. "A pallet knife…it's used to scrape off paint from pallets,"

"What?" he said again, his eyes narrowing without his mouth turning into the usual frown.

"A pallet?" she blinked. "It's what artists use to put their paint on, so they can hold it in one hand and the paintbrush in the other, and move freely in front of their easel if they wish to stand instead of sit. So they don't have to keep going back to the paint containers, and well, mix the paint into other colours. An easel is a stand for the canvas, where you paint on," Dawn realized that she had speaking a fair bit of words and fell silent. She dropped her gaze to her hands where she gripped the pallet knife tightly and pursed her lips together. She was unsure what to do next now that she had just fallen silent. He'd probably think she was being stupid again, and tell her to shut up.

"I know what an easel is," Severus suddenly said snidely. He was silent for a moment and then said, "You know a lot about these pointless things,"

Dawn snapped her head up, "That's not true! They're not pointless!" she said. He stared at her, and his gaze, though rigid, was not unkind. This drew her aback, but she remembered his words and continued. "I've…I've always loved paintings, and painting. Ever since we were given some to use at the orphanage where I grew up, I've been, well I guess in love with painting,"

" 'In love with painting'?" Severus smirked. "Such a girl,"

Dawn blinked and looked back down to her hands. "Well I am one…but I mean…just the feeling of being able to paint, and being able to…capture it onto a canvas through a paintbrush and the paints that you have with you,"

Severus prodded a wad of gum with a spade that was in the bucket of cleaning tools they had been given. "There are cameras, and video cameras that can capture images better than paintings,"

"But not what the artist sees," Dawn told him instantly. "It means more, it more beautiful, because it comes from human hands, because human hands tried to capture it," She opened her hands to stare at her palms and finger tips. "We're so tiny…" she said slowly. "But we took the colours from the earth and tried to sort them out ourselves, and recreate it. Innocently, because we wanted to, we _had_ to, just try and capture it, and hold it close…because even when we're gone, even if we try to destroy it…the beauty of the sky, the sun, the stars and moon, will always be there despite us," She stopped with a gulp and felt tears well up in her eyes. She gently brushed them away with the back of her hand, hoping Severus hadn't seen.

"You're crying?" he said, almost disbelieving.

"Uh…oh…yes, I am," Dawn sniffed, looking up with a shaky smile. "Sorry,"

The boy's face glanced at her for a moment longer and then shook his head, going back to trying the spell, saying one last thing before completely turning away. "You're weird,"

Surprisingly, it made Dawn smile and she gave a small laugh, "Yeah, I am,"

"At least you're not stupid enough to hide it," he muttered, she laughed again, and he said nothing. Neither of them did, for the longest time. A half hour later he finally came up with a spell, or a variation of it, that managed to blast off the gum. Dawn was given the task of picking them up with her dragon hide gloves and putting them into the waste basket. As she did this, Severus's voice came from a few tables away where he was working. She turned her head over her shoulder to see his turned back, stooping over a table, tiny bursts of light coming from in front of him as he continued to work.

"You grew up in an orphanage," His voice was slow and anything but interested in the fact he had just uttered.

"Yes," Dawn said, unsure of what more she could say to this. She was actually horrified to realize as she worked that she had actually admitted to a part of her past. She tried to avoid it, mostly because it brought upon pity or uncertainty from the people around her. What was even worse was when they tried to ask her questions about the whole matter, asking her what happened to her parents, if she was alright now, how her adoptive father was treating her. Not even James knew the whole story, or even most of it….or all of it. He probably thought that Jeremy was her step-father or something. Dawn felt a nervous squelch move about in her stomach. Even though she doubted that Severus would say anything laced with pity or concern, she was starting to regret what she had said.

Severus shifted to lean on his knees now and said nothing more however. Dawn wasn't sure whether or not to feel relieved or disappointed. Another half hour later, they had finished all of the desks and Slughorn's desk as well. Dawn had wanted to look under there, and they found a few pieces snuck there on the sly by some students. The task was completed, and they had finished turning back the tables when Slughorn came in.

"Ah, good job you two," he said, looking at them. Both were very tired and Severus had become irritable; his growls and scoffs came more often. "You won't do anything stupid again, now will you?" He asked. The children shook their heads, their eyes wide and believing. "Hopefully not for a while at least or there won't be much for you to do; around here…" He chuckled, and neither Severus nor Dawn chuckled or smiled back. "Well, be off then, enjoy your evening. Supper is in a half hour I believe," He sat at his desk and bade them off. The two children dragged themselves out of the classroom and Dawn swayed on her feet as Severus leaned against the wall, giving out another irritated sigh.

"Never again…" his eyes snapped open and he glared at her. "Got it?"

"Y-Yes!" she gulped bobbing her head up and down. He nodded, seemingly convinced.

"Good. I'm stuck with you, and I don't like it."

"I know…" Dawn said sadly. She still wished that they could at least get along better than they were…maybe with time. She knew that they didn't have to be friends, but even if he could stop barking orders at her, she'd feel a bit better about their whole seating arrangement. She didn't mind, not really. When they worked quietly like they had together for the last class it wasn't so bad. They didn't have to talk, just so long as he wasn't angry with her.

"But I think I can make it through the year," he told her. And Dawn looked up, her eyes wide, the look on her face hopeful. He caught her look and frowned. "I'm _not_ going to be your little buddy like Potter and Black are with you, got it?"

"Oh…I didn't—"

"I'm your lab partner and that's it," he interrupted. "Don't go thinking that we're going to be eventually chums because that's not going to happen if I can help it. You're annoying and beyond unbearable. But…" He gave a huge sigh as if it pained him to say the next few words. "But I'll put up with you if you just stay out of my way, and listen to what I tell you to do when it's your turn to make the potion, got it?"

"Alright," Dawn nodded, not knowing whether or not to take what he said as something kind or just as he had said; him putting up with her very presence. He nodded and turned away with a ripple of his robes, his Slytherin tie streaming behind him before he growled and righted it. When he was almost down the hall and she was just turning to go down the opposite way to supper, he whipped his head around and called back to her.

"And buy a new cauldron!" he barked.

"R-right!" she called in a shaky voice, startled. He made a gesture to show that he had heard her, and turned down the hall to where she assumed the Slytherin dormitories were. They were supposed to be in a dungeon or something, so they weren't supposed to be that far off from the Potions class. But then how would she know for certain. Maybe one day she'd ask him…or not.

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Notes!

HA! Another chapter! How's that Ku-chan?!

Anyway....a lot of new stuff is coming into the story for me as I go over it and rewrite many of the parts. Looking at the story, I realized that a lot of things were happening in the first couple of weeks of school that could happen later on in the year, allowing me to span out the story and move things along. As long as the pivotal stuff gets said, the unimportant walking from class to class bit and what they ate for lunch every day can be avoided. It's going to get tedious to write and to read I think. Dawn seems like such a shoujo manga character in this chapter, telling Snape about the beauty of the earth and all...well it was fun to write about, fun to get Dawn's opinions across. My thoughts on the whole matter don't really quite match, because I think that photographs can be very beautiful and haunting in ways that paintings cannot. People would doubt paintings more than photos....

James and Sirius crack me up....honestly...the stuff they say...Yay for Lily!! Way to go girl! Even though Dawn dreaded the detention, it turned alright in the end....didn't it? Meh.

-INARI


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

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A Touch of Sunlight

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Chapter Eleven**

Flying Turkeys

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September 11th_

_Dear Dawn,_

_I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear from you, at last! Though I must say it wouldn't have hurt to send me a letter as soon as you got time for it, instead of when a week had gone by. But I guess you have more to tell me now didn't you? I was worried your bird wouldn't be able to find me. Cheeky thing. It swooped over the crowd in my concert, looking like it was going to die from shock from the volume of the music (I had a headache after). It pecked me on the head like it really loved me, and then stuffed a letter down my shirt. I can say that everyone thought it was something to do with the show, and tried to dance like me. You know I wasn't really dancing of course. Do you think you could send another owl instead of Cobbles? _

_Back to your Hoggy Warty…I can't believe that there are hundreds of staircases, and the paintings, they move? You must have loved that. And photos move as well, yes? I'm planning to go to Diagon Alley and getting a wizard camera, Mr. Potter has said he'll go with me! We exchanged telephone numbers the last time we met up, seems he and his family lives in a place called Godric's Hollow. It's a long long way away from our London, but he appeared at my doorstep near moments after I was done getting ready. He was peering around our kitchen and living room, and was interested in my guitar. He kept looking for this little switch that wizard guitars are supposed to have. Maybe I'll find one in Diagon too? That'd be a treat. I'm going to get your cauldron this weekend too, don't think I forgot about your little mishap. With my letter the cauldron should be included. Happy to hear your classes are going well regardless. James wrote to me about the explosion, brilliant by the way. I was surprised to find a letter from him in my dressing room, that and a little stinky present from another bloody owl, but that's alright. I like letters you know? Of course you do. Right? Well you know now. I have bit of the goo from James too, smart lad to keep some and send it to me, it seems he's doing well too in school, and has had his fair share of adventures. And though I like the lad loads, you'll stay out of trouble when around him alright? Remus sounds like the sort to keep it all together though. And Lily, although James tells me she's a basket case, it sounds like you've made a good friend in her. Oh don't worry about what he said of her; girls are always gross to boys when we're little._

_I should mention that I'm glad to hear that you got to Hogwarts safely. But really Dawn, you didn't listen to anything I said! I told you to look for Hogwarts people and you went around looking for the platform without any help at all! Well you said you found someone to help you, but you trailed off after that about chocolate frogs, it makes me think you're hiding something? Well I'll forgive you if you send some chocolate frogs with you. James sent me some pumpkin pasties with his letter, and they were incredible. _

_You didn't mention anything about your little night excursions. Try to hold it off a bit? Please? You know I worry, and others will too once they start noticing you so dead tired in the morning, if they haven't already. Oh…and about your detention? I'm not disappointed; rather, I'm almost relieved. That Snape prat wasn't horrible to you was he? He sounds like a little snot…at least from what James has told me. You haven't mentioned him though. Tell me what you think; girls tend to be a bit more together than boys during their younger years. At least that's how it was with my sister…she always seemed so much smarter than me, and I hated her for it. Well…she is a teacher…bah._

_Have a happy-happy time at school. Write back about all the interesting things that happen. And don't think that because you're a witch now nothing is interesting anymore!_

_Love, Jeremy_

_(PS My tape will be coming out after Halloween. I'll send you a copy…can you listen to tape's there?)_

_October 14th_

_Dear Dawn,_

_Can you believe it! I've finally got my camera! I've been taking pictures of so many things, me doing laundry, Cobbles chasing me around the house, the band playing…on the sly of course, and I've always 'lost' the pictures afterwards. I keep them in a little album on my shelf in the bedroom after I developed them with that potion that came with it…what happens when I run out I wonder? Speaking of bedrooms, I've been keeping yours clean by the way. Cobbles likes sleeping there when she comes by with your letters. And if I'm cleaning in there she likes to sit on the washing machine…seems to like the rumbling of it under her feathery bum; such a strange bird. _

_Well I can say that it's really good to be home at last, I'm exhausted. Oh but there's still so much work to be done! The tape came out…sorry to hear that electronics don't work at that school of yours. Sorry, but I'll hate it for that. How do you listen to music when you don't have homework? Though it sounds like you've had loads piling up…Transfiguration is fascinating! Good job of successfully turning your match into a needle! Or was it a needle into a match? No matter, show it to me sometime. And send me some more chocolate frogs will you? I'm starting to collect those little cards. You're headmaster is such a Merlin! But he doesn't even look like Merlin…I have him too, I think I'm becoming a collector…Those frogs are incredible…do I eat them? Of course I do…it took a while, and I felt sick to my stomach trying to get one down…all of that wriggling. But the magic seems to wear off after a few hops, so after they go to sleep I eat them. Brilliant plan if I do say so myself._

_I'm sorry but when you said there were ghosts there I couldn't help but write a song about them. Nothing that would give away the secret, I assure you. I've even included the lyrics, have Remus look it over or something, just to make sure though. Tell me what you and everyone think, alright? I'd appreciate feedback from the sources of my inspiration. If I send you my camera, could you take pictures of Hogwarts? No no no, I kid…but could you? Write back to me on that…you said it's not likely that muggles like me can go there, so I at least want to see it! Catch me a Quidditch game will you?_

_James keeps telling me that he wants to go for it next year. Shame that you first years can't sign up…you said that you wouldn't want to though, right? Come on Dawn! Just imagine all the inspiration you'd get from flying! You're lessons didn't go that horribly from what you and James told me. So you managed to knock Snape over as you were practicing taking off. He should've been more careful. Honestly, if he's your partner in Potions, then he should know how clumsy you are, flying or not. Guess flying isn't your forte then? That's alright, you stick to painting. I wonder if I'd be good at painting._

_Happy Thanksgiving Dawn! Oh! Did I or James tell you? Potter and I are going to have some tea…he's invited me to his house! Can you believe it? It's going to be a long drive, but I'll get there. A real wizarding community! Hurrah! I'll tell you all about it in my next letter. _

_Love, Jeremy_

_November 3rd _

_Dear Dawn,_

_Next time those boys dare you to spend the night in the library, refuse!! Do you know what a scare that letter from the teacher gave me when I learned that you had knocked over twenty bookshelves while you ran blindly in the dark? You're right; YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO LILY!_

_To think that you would do something so careless! Headmaster Dumbledore told me that the restricted section is quite dangerous! What if you had let out a boogey man or some other sort of monster? If I could zap myself over there I would, but I can't, so I hope that detention of yours taught you something. I warned you about standing up for yourself, right? James and Sirius are great lads, really, but they get into trouble! And their trouble should stay with them, don't get yourself dragged into it!_

_Now I'm tired of writing this stupid thing…I'd rather not scold you when I write to you, you know that right? You're making me feel old!! _

_Love…because yeah, I still do…Jeremy_

_(If you send me some more chocolate frogs I'll forgive you…)_

_November 21st_

_Dear Dawn,_

_Thank you very much for the birthday present! That plant you sent me is lovely…it sings what I sing, it's fantastic! Thank your Herbology teacher so much for me, again and again! That she was able to order that for you was great! I take it with me into the tub, it seems to like singing with me in the water. I've named it Pepper…I don't know why, it just came to me. Maybe because the petals are speckled? Who knows? James gave me a whole bag of candy, but you already knew that didn't you? I swear I'm going to get fat on all of this wizard junk food. But it's incredible! Oh I wish I could be there with you! Don't feel sad when I tell you this of course, it just happens. You can't change how I was born, and I'm just so grateful to have you tell me all about it. James too, give him a hug for me! …on second thought, don't do that. It will just gross him out. Don't think that I forgot about the little painting you gave me of the castle, it was really very well done, better than the photographs, I promise. You finally told me about that little detention session with Snape because of the goo incident (I still have mine in a little jar). Don't mind him; some people are just blind to the better things in life. Like wine and music and art. Well, if you run out of paints, just send me Cobwebs, alright? We seem to be getting along better. As long as I turn down the amplifier when she comes by, she's happy. She's also gotten rid of the street rodents. The neighbours think that she's the street owl, funny. _

_By the way, the tape is selling beautifully! I can't believe how many sales we've made. Our manger wants us to go for another. Bring it on, I say. I'm ready! I've got loads of songs made thanks to your inspiration and the photos! I can't wait until we go for another. We've been getting more requests for playing at different concert halls, it's so exciting! I won't have that much time to get together with Potter and his missus. They were so lovely. I can't believe that they had James at such an age, and their house! I know I raved about it before, but my god! The house was incredible! And filled with so many interesting things! I couldn't stop asking questions, they must've thought me annoying. I hope not though. I asked them if maybe they could introduce me to Sirius's family too…but they said, can you believe it, they told me that they hate muggles!! _

_Well I guess I never ever thought of it not occurring, but still! James has told me a great deal about Sirius, I thought that his parents would have been as incredible as he was. Apparently not. Well, I don't need to deal with any baggy big shots…rich people. Bah. Well the Potters are fairly wealthy, but they're decent about it. I'm trying to see if I can make my own account at Gringotts…don't ask me why, it's just hard trying to exchange money all the time through Potter. I'd rather just spare him and myself the trouble. I'll get back to you on that. _

_Keep up with your classes! Glad to hear you're staying out of trouble! Is there really a ghost in one of the bathrooms? Could you take a picture or her…that is…if she doesn't mind? Write me more often!_

_Love, Jeremy_

_December 7th_

_Dear Dawn,_

_Sorry to hear about Myrtle. It never occurred to me that ghosts could actually control water…you're doing alright though, aren't you? And Lily and Tonks (great name) and Raven (great name too) right? They were brave girls to come with you and try and fend her off. Honestly, if I was a ghost I don't think I'd mind being photographed. Well…maybe she's still upset about dying. You don't know how she died did she? Sorry, but the other ghosts you told me about were so…free; I just don't see why she hangs around in the bathroom. _

_I'm not working over the Christmas Holidays! Isn't that great! I'll pick you up at the station, just tell me when! We'll have Christmas together, and we'll be able to talk loads about everything! I'll get us a good tree and make gingerbread men! I know it didn't work last year, but that's only because of that old oven. This year, with our new oven, it'll be brilliant, I swear!_

_I know you're probably sick of turkey already, but I took the liberty of making my own for practice. I think it turned out alright, thusly, I have sent it to you. I can't believe Cobwebs could lift such a thing! Well…she carried your cauldron so I guess she's a tougher chickee than I thought her to be. Write when I need to pick you up! I hope the last weeks of school go well for you!_

_Enjoy the turkey! Share it, will you?_

_Love, Jeremy._

Cobwebs had brought her a turkey. Dawn didn't know how her bird had managed to carry it, as it had stuffing and potatoes packed into it with the package, but she had imagined that the bits torn off from the carcass had to do with the lightness of the burden. But like Jeremy had said, she had carried her second cauldron all the way to the school. Dawn certainly wouldn't be eating the turkey now however.

"Don't tell me you were thinking of actually eating it." James said, gagging.

"Jeremy's turkeys are delicious," Dawn said, taking a poke at it. Cobwebs went to chew on the larger bird again, ignoring the parts that had seasoning quickly dashed on, and ignoring too perhaps that this bird was a member of her family. "And it was wrapped."

Remus was looking away, his face slightly green, and his mouth covered with a slightly quivering hand. The girl's hadn't arrived yet, so they would only have to bear with the lingering smell of the rotted meat once Dawn had taken it away. Sirius was anxious for this,

"Just get it out of here!" he snapped, pushing it away from the boy's side of the table; a territory that was established only weeks before. Dawn carried it away and dumped it into a waste bin before returning to her seat opposite of Sirius. It was strange always being across from them now. There seats had always been jumbled together, save for Sirius and James always near each other. No one would have it any other way, for apart, they were likely to have a food fight across someone's head. But that hardly happened any more. And even though Dawn was happy not to have gravy and trite in her hair, she was missing the cheeriness that had drifted to the heels of her close year mates.

"Hey! I finally got my match to turn into a needle!" Sirius said, holding out a needle suddenly and poking an apple piece with the end and putting the fruit in his mouth.

"Took you long enough," James grinned. "What was that? A month ago we learned it? Well, at lest the up and coming test will be easier on you…"

"Well unlike your wand," Sirius sniffed, "Which is great at transfiguration, mine…mine…"

"Yeah…?" James laughed.

"I can't think of it now, Ollivander told me such a long time ago,"

"It's only been three months and a bit!"

Dawn smiled, recalling how James had indeed presented his needle one meal time not long after their original class with Professor McGonagall. During class James had spent more time trying to light it with his teeth to the teacher's displeasure. Now that he had achieved it, his antics didn't seem like such a big deal anymore.

Soon, the girl's arrived and sat down on the side Dawn was presently at. They said their good-mornings' to Dawn, but as they had for a long while now, ignored the boys. They in turn ignored them and Dawn was forced to push off asking Remus about the date when students would be boarding the train back to London. The girls filled their plates and ate in stony silence, the boys talked amongst them, ignoring them ignoring them. It felt as if a ghost had passed through the area, but all of the ghosts seemed to be doing something ghostly across the Great Hall, so that wasn't the case. If anyone wanted to bring up some sort of truce, it didn't seem like it was going to happen too soon. Dawn felt horrible about the whole arrangement, probably because somewhere along the way she had begun blaming herself for the entire happening. This was not entirely the case, but Dawn wasn't one to blame anyone but herself for…well just about anything that involved her as a party. Dawn looked at her tea, and sighed heavily.

One day, the girl's had just had enough James and Sirius. Enough of all of their games and jokes and tricks, which happened to include that very same day: James and Sirius having a fight with porridge, James and Sirius tripping Tonks into a suit of armour, James and Sirius making Lily accidentally point her wand at Professor Flitwick and make him rise into the air with her superb "wingardium leviosa", James and Sirius getting Peeves to chase after Dawn and Raven into a boy's washroom, and then finally James and Sirius pulling a prank in the midst of all the girls and having Filch interrogate them for thirty minutes, causing them to be late for supper.

The girls seemed to have calmed down once food was sinking into their stomachs, but they were like Christmas crackers in the hands of two overly eager children. Dawn had finished her single potato and decided to have a cup of tea while everyone was talking about Herbology. Dawn's thought's were on the list of things Severus demanded that she memorize before the attempt their next potion, which he had calculated could be the most potentially disastrous one yet…and she was assigned to brew it.

She hardly noticed how many spoonfuls of sugar she plopped into her little cup. Usually she put in half a dozen or so, she didn't like it too sweet after all. While she was staring into space, with her notes in front of her, trying to recall the contents before checking to see if she had listed everything correctly in head, Sirius happened to spot her untouched cup.

He reached over and before anyone could register his swift hand movement across the table, had took a long and heavy gulp. Suddenly, he spat it across the table and into Raven and Lily's faces. Tonks had managed to only get some on her shoulder, but nonetheless, the cracker's paper had finally snapped.

Lily slammed her fists on the table as she rose to glare at a wide eyed Sirius.

"I have had enough of this nonsense!" she screamed, making most of their table silence instantly. There was always noise from their end, but not a noise that was filled with such…fiery anger.

"As have I," Raven said wiping away at the sticky tea clinging to her dark hair. She looked no less angry. Sirius tried to shake things off with a scruffy grin that usually made the majority of girls forgive him. He had acquired a large group of girl's that had heavy crushed on him.

"Come on, girls," he was saying, chuckling nervously and growing smaller in his seat. Dawn was coming out of her daze to look around at what was happening. Beside James, she looked for answers in him, but he had the look about him like a dear caught in headlights, and was no help at all. "You don't know how much sugar she out in this bloody cup!" Sirius continued.

"We don't care!" Tonks seethed. "We've had enough of your stupid pranks and your stupid jokes! They're not funny!"

James and Sirius looked horrified, like the children that realized that Christmas was cancelled from the old specials of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Dawn was looking back and forth to the boys and the girls, wondering what the problem was, and happening to forget all that she had tried to remember.

Remus had just come back in the Great Hall from the dormitory where he had offered to take some books up for James and Sirius as he went and was taking a seat beside Lily, but she snapped her head at him and growled, "Over there! Get!"

Remus jumped back, quite surprised and looking to his friends for answers, but they shook their heads; they had no idea what Lily was planning either, and didn't look brave enough to venture. Tonks was beside her friend instantly, and quickly cleared everything up.

"Boys over there, and girls over here!" She pointed to each spot. There happened to be more girls on their side, outnumbering Dawn by two, so it wasn't exactly planned, but effective regardless.

"Get over here Dawn!" Raven snarled, making Dawn flinch. Of course the snarl wasn't towards Dawn; Raven was actually looking at Sirius trembling in his seat when she spoke.

"B-B-B-But—" Dawn trembled too.

"Now Dawn!" Lily ordered.

"Hey that's not fair!" James protested as Dawn slunk under the table to join the girls. There was a sudden need to cry in her throat, but she pushed it down.

"Yeah, we can sit wherever we want to!" Sirius supported. "You can't confine us here!"

"Of yes we can!" Lily said. "Remus, join the other losers."

"I resent that," he said walking around the end of the table and sat down without much of a complaint. Walking up and down the stairs and missing dinner far longer than the girls, he seemed to concentrate more and getting food on his plate than anything.

"As do we," James said putting and arm around his friends.

"None of us have a problem with it," Tonks was saying. "Right Dawn?" The other girl was looking mournfully through her long bangs at the wall before her.

"Now I can't see the other tables," she sighed. "There are no pictures here, there's…nothing but wall and well…wall,"

"What does it matter?" Tonks said irritably. "Us girls have to stick together!"

She then let out a sigh and returned to following the pattern of the table cloth with her fingers. Now she only had crumbs and the cloth to interest her. Remus passed her her paper, and she took it with thanks. They exchanged sighs of weariness; it was going to be a long, long week.

And it was a long week, of bickering and name calling, before finally it wore down to just stony refusal of acknowledging each other's presences. The boys didn't seem to mind Dawn talking to them, after deciding she wasn't a spy and that she wasn't going to bring down all hell on them like Raven tended to do. Her patience was wearing thin around them, especially Sirius, who happened to have picked on her first since day one.

Today, James had made the fatal mistake of burping from across the table, and had started off yet another long meal of rowing, and it lasted well into the halls.

Herbology went horribly wrong when Remus accidentally tripped and dumped soil filled with crawling bug-like seedlings all over Lily. Remus managed to stay out of the girls' way mostly, and they were beginning to see him as a neutral party, but not anymore.

After Lily was done telling him off and they had lost five points for disturbing the class, it was off to Potions. Dawn had never felt more relieved to sit by Severus Snape, and he must have seen it instantly because he put his book bag as an extra divider between the chairs and glared at her.

"Don't tell me you're in another good mood today," he said irritably.

"Oh no, actually I'm in quite a gloomy one," Dawn replied back.

"Well, I hope your misery doesn't want company because you won't get it from me," Dawn was actually sure that if she could actually complain about things without feeling too guilty about them, Severus would actually be the perfect person to complain about her friends with, seeing as he seemed to hate them as much as they hated each other. But she only nodded to show she understood and that was that of them talking for a long while. This was peaceful enough to be called good. As Slughorn was lecturing about the properties of their next batch of potions, Dawn took a quick glance around the room. Tonks and Raven would be at ease, and so would James and Sirius. It was the last two that were going to be having some problems. Lily and Remus had actually been good lab partners for the past few months, seeing as they were both very clever, they ended up making superb potions and used the rest of their class time to expand their learning or debate on topics that seemed beyond the rest of the group at times.

Today however, it would be no good. The tension in the air would be difficult for a curse to break through.

Everyone got started on their potions soon enough after. Dawn was the one making it today, but she was feeling a tad bit unsure of herself. She hadn't studied to potion last night as much as she had wanted to, and so she was taking her time looking over the ingredients and reading the text fervently without Severus catching her.

"Can you start the potion already?" He sat up straight in his seat and glanced over to Dawn with her bent back over her text book. She startled, and turned her head back with a nervous expression.

"Um…are you sure it's alright for me to do it on my own?" Dawn asked.

"You did the last one alright, except for it being an inadequate antidote. We certainly wouldn't have cured anyone with that mess," But the tone of his voice hinted that he was just glad it didn't explode, so 'alright' meant non-explosive. Dawn nodded, still worried, and began by pouring some weird dust that was supposed to be ground up dragon bones into the boiling juice Severus had started.

"I can't help you all the time you know," he was saying to her, and he looked ready to shudder at the word 'help'. "You'll fail your exams if you don't start understanding your antidotes and ointments properly," This he said a little more merrily, maybe imagining her being held back a class in Potions, being rid of her forever.

"I won't fail, I promise!" Dawn swore.

"What are you promising to me for? You think I care?" He snorted and began preparing some more ingredients. "Stir that, and shut up," Turning another page in his book and scribbling down some notes, he said nothing more and watched only the potion.

Dawn nodded and continued her timid work. She looked back and forth from the black board to her own text book; the pages had turned purple from her first Potions class disaster. But as she added the ingredients to the mixture, he nothing of protest, merely marked down the next development and let her do as she would. Dawn thought perhaps he felt confident in her now after three months. He didn't say anything when she added in the ingredients and began to stir a pinch of the funny brown leaves each turn, just as the textbook said, although she was praying she had picked up the right ones from Slughorn's special store room.

Professor Slughorn came over and nodded at her potion. He wasn't standing back so far away from their table anymore, so maybe she was getting better. He went on to Lily and Remus. Lily refused to even speak to her partner during their potion making and note adjusting. The courteous air around them was gone, and just a few days ago they had actually begun talking again of their old interests. Remus moved around in his chair, and Lily snapped her head at him, green eyes blazing.

"Don't knock the table around!"

Remus sighed deeply and tried to keep his voice even as he spoke to her, still minding his work. "Lily. I shifted in my chair to get comfortable."

"Well you getting comfortable is ruining our potion!!!"

Remus's eyebrow twitched into a frown. He glared at her through the corners of his eyes. "Actually, I think rocking might be good for the formula, since we have to shake it in separate containers after-we're-done-boiling-it!" His teeth grinded together and Lily's face turned pink.

"I don't care what you think!" She hissed. "I will not have you ruining my potion!"

"And I will not have you ruining my day, Lily!" Remus said turning around to face her. "I think I apologized enough for that incident, which again, was a complete accident. I don't think the Minister of Magic could have been more flattered by my apologies that I gave to you! And I can't help being your partner anymore that you can help being mine. Maybe if we stop bickering and actually work together like we're supposed to, we can get through this unscathed!"

Lily 'hmphed' and then turned back to their potion. It had begun to clear up like Dawn's and Severus's had a little awhile ago. Lily peered inside the cauldron.

"You added in the leaves?" She asked quietly, pulling her book forward absently.

"After stirring three times and slowly adding in the boiling water, yes." Remus replied.

Dawn felt her stomach lurch as she heard this, and she turned to Severus, white as a sheet. "I stirred four times—!" She squeaked. But Severus hardly glanced at her.

"Four's better than three," he said. She glanced at his side notes in his text and saw indeed that he had crossed out three and placed four stirs for the leaves. Dawn stared at him in bewilderment, and he seemed to almost shrug.

"I just guessed," He said. A good guess at that, since their potion was actually coming along faster and clearer than all of the others in the room.

As Lily began to actually speak in a decent tone of voice to Remus, James and Sirius were testing their handcrafted miniature catapults. They were aiming for the back of Severus's head but James had suddenly sneezed, making Sirius jump. He accidentally flung that small chunk of the slimy substance they had snuck from the shelves, right into Lily and Remus's potion.

Lily let out a little shriek when it landed with a plunk inside of the clearing waters. Remus looked into the cauldron and looked mournful. The potion started to bubble slowly and then turn a strange copper brown. Lily was staring hard into the potion as Remus cooled it off with his wand and then lifted it up from the heat. He sadly turned the cauldron so that it was upside down. The potion fell out like plaster. It had completely moulded into the shape of the inside of the container, and it let out a large thunk as it hit the table, hard as rock. Lily's fists shook in her lap as Remus chuckled meekly.

"Something like that happening, you mean?"

Lily let out a low growl and picked up the solidified potion and chucked it as hard as she could into the waste bin across the room. Dawn clapped from her seat. "Wow Lily," she said beaming. "That was amazing!"

Lily snapped her head around at Dawn and glared, making the smaller girl stop laughing and stare meekly at her lap. Severus sighed and hit Dawn's shoulder with his book.

"Back to work," he said "Bacteria next, crush in you hands and drop in as you stir counter clockwise." Dawn nodded sadly and followed his directions.

"Counter…?" She sniffed. "But the book said…"

"Counter, yes, let's take a chance and hope the best; sunshine and rainbows and kittens. Whatever. Stop moping."

"I can't help it," Dawn moaned. "I don't like it when people are mad at me; it makes me feel like I have to do something to make it up to them. But I can't think of what do for Lily."

"I'm getting angry right now," Severus growled. Dawn looked further mortified. But do you know what you can do for me?" She shook her head. "DO THE POTION IN SILENCE. I thought I told you to shut up."

He sighed and went back to reading and glancing at the potion. "Stop stirring, count to fifty in your head, then opposite direction, fifty seconds." Dawn breathed heavily again. Severus began to wonder if one person can sigh so much in a single sitting by the tine class was almost over.

After awhile, he glanced over from his notes to peer at her and the potion, in case it had gone awry while he worked; without her groaning and wincing as she worked, he had no way of knowing what she had done.

Dawn's lips were moving, although no sound was heard by Severus as she counted the second lapse of fifty in her head. Once she was done she glanced at him and smiled awkwardly, and the look of it seemed strained. His look told her not to bother and to continue being miserable, so it fell from her face.

"What happens now?" Dawn sighed again.

"Copy the notes," Severus almost sighed too, but caught himself and cleared his throat. "I'll take over and watch it stew,"

Dawn blinked as he passed over the paper and scooched his chair closer to the cauldron in the middle of their table and peered inside the murky steam. "Yeah?" Dawn murmured. "How come?"

"How come what?" Severus said irritably. "It's my potion as well, and I don't want you following me after class like a stray dog looking for the notes I took. If you were a better witch, you'd take them down as well as we went, but you haven't got the brains for it, or the reflexes do you?"

"Um…I suppose not…but I meant, why does it have to stew?" Dawn said, grabbing some of her own parchment from her bags and laying it on the table to begin her next task.

"What do you mean 'why'?" he sniffed. "It says it in the textbook that's why,"

"Well…I just would have thought that maybe, if some of the ingredients were a bit more aged, then maybe, we wouldn't have to stew as along as we do…?" Dawn's fingers squirmed like worms in her lap. Severus said nothing.

"Urm…because then while they're boiling, the incense of the ingredients could just steep like tea or something and—"

"You mean essence not incense," Severus said suddenly.

"Oh! I—"

"And that's the smartest thing you've said all year," He was tapping the cauldron with his quill lightly as he spoke very quietly.

"R-Really?" Dawn stuttered, feeling a swell of delight swell up within her for a moment (although the suggestion that she hadn't said anything smart stung) before Severus spoke again.

"Except that it wouldn't work. These ingredients don't become more potent as they age like some things. Take the lacewings, they need to be fresh. And some of these herbs just go bad."

"I see," Dawn sighed. He continued again and she watched him speak to the cauldron.

"Some herbs after all have to picked at a certain time, in a certain month or year after growing. Stewing often breaks down many of the elements to an ingredient that cannot be removed by magic or by hand, and so after their required time, the ingredients trigger accordingly or become more potent or amplify other ingredients to make them more potent. It's all different, and if you studied each ingredient more, you'd realize that,"

"Very good, Severus," Professor Slughorn said from Dawn's side. He had wandered closer as the boy was speaking, and happened to be nodding approvingly. Both children looked startled to have him so near to their table when he had avoided it for so long. "Five points for Slytherin I think," And he walked away.

None of the other Slytherins looked at Severus any differently, but seemed pleased to have more points. Most were thinking that Severus had better just keep that up, to get back the points he had lost them. Although they weren't congratulating him, Dawn certainly did.

"Congratulations, Severus," she said warmly. He turned to her and gave a huge aggravated sigh.

"You haven't seemed to have grasped the house rivalry thing yet," he muttered.

"What?" Dawn asked, looking bewildered. He shook his head, closing his eyes, but then they snapped open as tiny black dots. He jerked his head down and saw the smaller space between the two of them.

"Move over!" Severus snapped at her. She blinked and glanced down as well.

"But you moved clos—" Dawn tried but he silenced her with another glare, so she sadly moved her chair to the very edge of the table until half of her chair was sitting out in the isle.

James and Sirius glanced over to Dawn and forgot about counting the rotations of the ladle they used to stir their simmering potion and just kept stirring. Not noticing it changing colours. James grinned and gave her a thumbs up, "Good job, Dawn,"

"Yeah," Sirius agreed, "Stay as far away from him as possible,"

"Would you shut up?!" Lily snapped behind them. "It's bad enough trying to concentrate with Remus muttering over here!"

"I'm not muttering," Remus said through gritted teeth, holding his temples and staring at the desk. "The only thing I'm doing...is BREATHING, Lily."

"Your breathing is so loud; it sounds like you're wheezing!" Lily growled. "Or panting or I don't know what! Just stop it so we can finish this potion. We're already behind because of your idiot friends!" He didn't seem to disagree completely with this, although James and Sirius were making faces of amplified shock.

"Fine," Remus scowled and went back to taking his notes on the potion's origin from the board. Below the black board, Professor Slughorn sighed deeply as he gazed at his class,

"We do children bicker at such an age?" he wondered out loud.

* * *

Notes!

A new chapter!! Take that Ku-chan! This chapter has a lot of time skips that have been severed down into Jeremy's letters....yes, he writes like he talks, I like that in people. This was a fun chapter to write, and it had a lot of stuff that I had planned for later, but then decided to just shove in now. By later I guess I mean during the same time but chapters from now...but I need to get the story moving out of the first year and into a more present time. I think this story will just be one big time skipping bunny *cough* as it goes on. Hope people enjoy it. Until next time!

-INARI


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer:

InariSushi does not own ANY of J.K. Rowling's characters. If you do not know them by now…may the gods help your mortal soul…

However, it is to be noted that InariSushi does in fact own Dawn Detroit and Jeremy Collins, as well as the odd owl or two and other characters that have no real affiliation to Harry Potter's canons.

* * *

A Touch of Sunlight

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

When the Hand Strikes Seven

* * *

It was nearing the time when everyone was talking about the holidays in all of the houses, and near nothing else. There were plans being made, promises being sworn, and cries of "But you said you were staying!" and "Now what am I supposed to do all by myself?!" Professor McGonagall had come around the Gryffindor common room with a paper of those who would be staying at Hogwarts. The holidays were next week, and Dawn was very excited to get back to Jeremy and show him the new pictures she had taken of Hogwarts, especially the one of the lake. She managed to get a good photo of the giant squid as it came up for a bit to have its tentacles feel the chilly air before going back down to the colder lake. Dawn suspected that it hibernated, and planned to ask the teacher about its habits. This teacher was for a class that she'd be able to take in her third year, Care of Magical Creatures. However, seeing as the teachers were busily trying to finish up the last bits of the current units and assign holiday homework for their classes, Dawn decided it would be best to ask the teacher when she returned after the New Year.

James and Sirius had invited Remus along with them to James's place, but after looking at a calendar near the fireplace, he declined, saying that it was better if he was with his parents. Dawn noted that Remus often went to go look after his sick mother from time to time when things got bad, or was sick for a few days at least once a month. For a boy that seemed as perky as his friends (though usually calmer when found on his own), he got the flu quite often. Raven was staying at Hogwarts, and Tonks had offered to stay with her too after a letter to her parents, promising them she'd return for Spring Break instead. It sounded like her parents were disappointed, but finally relented. Dawn didn't try to ask Raven about her home matters. She had looked so glum about the memory of her home and then so visibly grateful when Tonks had offered to stay with her; Dawn thought it would be best to leave those matters alone. Raven seemed to confide in Tonks more than the others girls, but then Dawn talked to Lily more often than Raven or Tonks. None of the girls mentioned this, had no jealousy towards the others, because frankly they often had too much fun together to worry about things like that. They were, after all, only eleven.

More serious matters were for the older students, who were frequently seen crying, bickering, and breaking up with one another. Fights between the Slytherin and Gryffindor houses were more frequent and passionate in the older years, probably because they had more time to build on their hatred and rivalry. Not that the first year Gryffindors got along with the first year Slytherins, but at least they weren't hexing each other so ferociously all the time. Dawn had a feeling that the older students wanted the younger ones to follow their example sometimes. When an older student from Slytherin had walked in to deliver a message for Slughorn, and had spotted Dawn and Severus copying notes from the board, their different house badges identified by one being green and the other red. Dawn had noticed him wrinkling his nose when she glanced up for the next paragraph. Maybe Severus was right; maybe she really hadn't grasped the whole house rivalry thing just yet, although James and Sirius certainly had. Dawn wasn't sure what exactly had happened in the last days of the last tense Potions class, but Severus had started sending darker glares than usual over Dawn's shoulder, and James and Sirius returned them just as darkly. It was starting to make her nervous.

"I wonder how Petunia is doing?" Lily wondered aloud when they were walking back from History of Magic with their classmates yawning around them. Lily was going back to her parents as well for the break, and had suggested a few nights before that perhaps Dawn might want to visit her sometime during the break. Dawn hoped that would be possible, and hoped even more that if she asked Jeremy about it, he wouldn't feel left out. She could clearly imagine him throwing himself to the floor, wailing away about how she was abandoning him.

"Is that your dog?" Dawn asked her. Lily laughed aloud.

"No, my sister," she grinned.

"Lily and Petunia," Dawn smiled.

"I don't know what my parents were thinking," Lily shook her head. "They constantly refer to us as their _blooming flowers_ in their _happy little garden_," Both girls chuckled as they entered the Great Hall for supper, happy to sit down and forget the stress of the day amongst the merging chatter of the four house tables. The teachers didn't make as much noise as the students did, although Hagrid would tend to laugh loudly after a couple of hard drinks, as Dawn had observed on the Halloween festivities. The girls sat down on the long benches, feeling relieved to sit down on something other than a desk bench. It had been a gruelling afternoon.

Severus hadn't responded when Dawn asked him what his plans for the break were; again, he didn't seem to be in the best of moods. Maybe it was just the busy double Potions class with her that made him that way, or maybe he wasn't looking forward to the break at all. She had noticed that he was a little stiff backed and jerky last Flying Class. The group seemed to be progressing quite well. They were now playing racing games and obstacle courses and for the better flyers, mock Quidditch games in a marked off area. Dawn was not one of the better flyers unfortunately, so she spent her time learning how to hover properly without reeling from the height or toppling over when her head turned to something distracting. Dawn still had a bruise on her bottom from when she noticed a flock of owls returning to the school with mail. It wasn't just her bottom that was hurting from the fall either; her chest was too, especially when she was going up the stairs and at night when she laid down a certain way. She couldn't understand it, but the less she did helped the jabbing pain in her chest, which at times would sharpen when she took an extra long breath.

"My sister was really upset when I left," Lily sighed sadly as they went about loading their plates. "She didn't want me to go, and I think she was still upset when she couldn't come with me…"

"Hmmm…" Dawn nodded. She could only imagine the horrible disappointment of having your sister go but not you. Jeremy had been disappointed, but of course reasonable enough to realize that he was far too old to be starting Hogwarts anyway. She had told him that in her letters when explaining more about Hogwarts. He was happy enough now to just learn as much as he could about the world of magic. What he really wanted, Dawn knew, was to actually go and visit her at Hogwarts. But that was probably never going to happen. In the last letter that Dawn had sent Jeremy, he had responded in saying that he had gotten a witch in the Leaky Cauldron to let him inside Diagon Alley, and they had had a wonderful date. Dawn wasn't sure if he was really interested in the woman or just going for another visit in Diagon Alley, but she supposed she'd find out when she returned.

A part of her however, was not looking forward to having Christmas dinner with another one of Jeremy's girlfriends, even if it was one that could join in talks of the magical world. She'd been away from her young adoptive father for so long, that she realized she wanted him all to herself. She'd hope he'd understand and not think her selfish. But then, if she asked to go and visit Lily, was she being a hypocrite? Dawn scrunched her face together in worry; maybe visiting Lily wasn't the best idea then?

The dinner time was long for the both of the girls, although their plates were in great contrast from the other. Many people were hardly eating from the excitement, so Dawn was let off for the time being when Professor McGonagall came by again informed everyone once more of when the train was coming and what they could leave behind.

"I suggest that you take some of your books at least," she said to them sternly. "So that those falling behind can catch up their studies…" She gave a stare to James and Sirius down the table and both waved merrily to her, not having listened to a word she said. The older woman shook her head with a half-hearted sigh and took off.

"I'm bringing all of my books," Lily said. "I want to get a head start on the new units,"

"I'm bringing the History text, I guess…" Raven sighed. "I think I missed everything we've learned so far,"

"Good dreams though," Tonks noted. "Not very educational however, although I did have a dream about a witch burning…but then she turned into some pumpkin pasties... Oh hey, Raven, guess what?"

"What?"

"I talked to Madam Hooch, and she said that we could practice flying during the break, as long as we clean up the brooms afterwards and if the weather is alright,"

"Excellent!" Raven grinned back at her beaming friend. They were getting to be quite good at flying, the two of them. Lily said nothing to this, having decided that it wasn't the end of the world to be a moderate flyer. Dawn was happy that she wasn't soaring into the trees anymore or onto the roof to be fetched by Madam Hooch.

"It's really alright then?" Raven asked, with the sort of voice that was wondering if such a thing was too good to be true.

"That I'm staying, yeah, its fine," Tonks grinned. "Besides, it's always depressing when the rest of my mother's family sends us cursed objects for Christmas. You know, they could always just say that they hated us in a card or something," She sighed and glanced over to Sirius who was listening. He turned his head away and had a sour expression that Tonks seemed to understand. Dawn said nothing to this. She had learned somewhere, somehow along the way that the Black family disliked Sirius and Tonks very much, though she hadn't a clue for the exact reasons.

"Let's talk about happier things, shall we?" Lily said. "How did everyone do on their last Potions test from Monday?" James, Sirius and Tonks all gave small groans.

"Happier?" Tonks asked incredulously.

"I did alright, actually," Raven said. "The last unit, remedies, was pretty easy,"

"I did alright too," Remus said. The girls looked at him, and tension sat in the air for a small moment before Lily gingerly said,

"What did you get?"

"Ninety," he replied, trying to seem pleasant, though swallowing hard after speaking.

"Oh, me too," Lily suddenly smiled. "What question got you?"

Remus cracked a small smile too, "The second last one. I went on to talk about the different effects on the doses, before realizing that I was still talking about the variation of the potion instead of the focussed remedy,"

"I was a little confused about one of the doses…" Lily began. They leaned closer across the wide table to talk in a very formal and careful sort of tone. Dawn beamed at them. Maybe after the break was done, they'd all be a bit more inclined to regain their kindness to one another. Taking Lily and Remus's talk as a good sign, Sirius suddenly asked Raven for notes from the last Herbology class, adding that since she was superb at note taking, he'd be better off with her than copying James. Whether or not he was deftly trying to compliment her to win good favours, he still got a hard jab to the arm by James. Raven was startled for a moment and slowly began pulling out her Herbology papers.

"Wait, let's do that in the common room," Tonks said. "I need your Transfiguration diagram from yesterday,"

"Oh I got that one," James said.

Tonks raised an eyebrow, "_You_ got the notes?"

"Hey, Transfiguration is my favourite class, aside from Flying, of course,"

"Alright, let's head out. I'm don't want to get gravy on my parchment, thanks," Raven stood and climbed over the bench and the rest of them followed. Dawn stayed behind with Lily and Remus, who had pulled out their tests and talking over the questions, marking places in their text,

"Maybe it was one of the in-class notes…"

"But I'm just so sure it was a side note in the end of the chapter, I just know it…"

Dawn smiled and poured herself another cup of sickly sweet tea. The start of the holidays was sure to go well, she thought, and the rest of the week looked promising too. Dawn took out her test and took a peak at it. She had done pretty well, she thought, aside from being a nervous wreck when Snape told her at the beginning of the test to disregard the notes they had taken because he had found a better formula that was sure to impress Slughorn. He was probably, most likely talking to himself, but since she overheard and didn't know which potion he was referring to, she had spent the entire test agonizing over the questions on formulas and ingredient properties. She had a spare piece of parchment and was going through everything she could remember and trying to imagine making the potions listed with imaginary alterations. It didn't help her state of mind, and in the end she spilt her ink bottle on the spare parchment and her notes and scribbles were ruined. So, in Potions tomorrow, the last class of the afternoon, she wanted to muster up her courage and ask Severus what he had meant. It was surprising to her that he could think so deeply about the potions they made and come up with so many ideas. It was actually quite admirable to see a first year take the time to really go through sorting out the information to develop their potions and the like.

Thinking further on this, after wondering how he found the time to do it with all of their pre-holiday schoolwork load, she realized that the only reason she didn't have all the time she wanted to paint these days, was because she was spending time with her friends and schoolwork. She had seen Severus talk sometimes to the other Slytherins, but for the most part they seemed to ignore him, finding nothing of interest about him besides for the passing comment about how mortifying it must be to sit beside such an incompetent Gryffindor, and that topic of conversation was getting stale. He hardly spent time with them at all in the halls, library, and house table and after class in the warmer and drier days before the first snows fell on the grounds. In short, unless Severus spent his time with them only in the Slytherin common room, Dawn had never seen him surrounded by anyone who looked remotely like a friend. Recalling his complaints to any who would listen about her follies in Potions made her a little glum. But what made her even glummer, was thinking about him alone.

It was a familiar sympathetic feeling that dwelled inside of her, because she remembered how lonely it was when no one talked to her at the orphanage, and because she was a newcomer in that short time in the muggle public school she had previously attended made her understand that pain of not being able to talk to others. She remembered finding special stones on the ground, spotting a bird and drawing a picture of it, or picking dandelions and having no one, no one at all to share them with. It was a terrible and empty feeling, that had made her think that she didn't or couldn't ever belong, because no one had stepped forward to take her hand and bring her into a circle. That's why Jeremy had been such a blessing, even though he was much older; his vibrant attitude made up for that little bit that was lost in her younger years.

She remembered at times, showing _him_ flowers and stones and pictures, and feeling quite silly afterwards and almost embarrassed. But maybe his enthusiasm in these small things was him understanding her need to build a connection between someone. Seeing his happiness, and finding that he was actually pleased when she helped out, made her want to please him even more. She desperately wanted Jeremy to like her when she was given that miraculous chance, and now that she was liked, even loved by him, there was a great sense of ease, even when she had stepped through the doors of Hogwarts, not knowing what might happen. Because not far off, only after a couple of wing beats of an owl, was someone who was waiting for her letters and waiting for her to spend Christmas with him.

Staring at her Potions test Dawn had the sudden urge to look over her shoulder and glance at what Severus was doing, it was likely that he had finished eating by now and had scampered off to somewhere as he usually did. She took a small peek behind her hair and shoulder, and sure enough, his hunched over back was no where in sight. She turned back and sighed, unnoticed by Lily and Remus who were now arguing good naturedly over the use of the collected condensation inquired on the third question. Staring more and more at her answers, and thinking about how she had decided to ask Severus about the potion formula he had come up with, made her suddenly decide then and there, that she would also, somehow, if she was brave enough, ask him some more questions. Questions she had wanted to ask before, questions she had asked her Gryffindor year mates.

"_When's your birthday?"_ That probably wouldn't go over well at all actually…because then he would try to avoid her on that day, seeing as she would see it as a good thing to go about getting him a present.

"_Where do you live exactly?"_ She already knew that he lived near Lily, but if he was asked this he might accuse her of trying to pester him outside of school as well.

"_What's your favourite colour?"_ Well…that was definitely an opening for ridicule.

"_What are your mum and dad like?"_ She doubted that he'd want to talk to anybody about his family.

And it was sad to think then that any of these questions would pose as a problem and make him angry with her. Unlike her, who made an effort to get along with people, have them possibly like her so that things would be easier, he made every effort it seemed to drive people away from him. Wasn't he lonely? Ever? Didn't he want someone to talk to? If Dawn had found just one interesting thing, one potions discovery then she would be running to Lily to tell her and have them look it over. But Severus did not of this. Well not really. He did tell her something, but that didn't mean anything. He just wanted things to go faster, prove to himself and Slughorn that he was clever, and that was that.

Yet still, for all that he was scary and rude and abrasive, Dawn wanted to be friends with him, if only to find out if he needed a friend, despite not seeming to want one. Dawn folded her paper away and grabbed her tea cup determinedly.

'_I will find out one thing about Severus before the break starts!_' she decided. '_One thing big or small, and from there, I will find out if…if…_' She sighed and sipped her tea.

She would find out to see if _any_ of this worrying was any good.

***

The next day ended with snow that turned into rain for a short period of time, and then back to snow. If any could imagine the grounds of Hogwarts now, hopefully they would imagine it to be very icy and slippery because of the weather. Not the best conditions for walking to the green houses, but walk the first year Gryffindors did all the same. The rain and snow seemed to cast a gloomy feeling upon the students, and even the plants, aside of course from the ones that loved this sort of weather, seemed a little gloomy. Professor Sprout was a little less cheery too, but at least not snappy like Professor McGonagall had been before lunch time.

Perhaps her aging bones could sense the coming release of the dark clouds that had appeared in the morning, but she was quite short with the lot of them. James and Sirius she was especially cross with, because they couldn't stop talking to one another and passing notes between the spaces in their table. Instead of laughing it off as usually, they for once slumped in their chairs and wore a similar mask of angry glumness as she did when she carried on the lesson.

After class, James and Sirius had been bickering with Remus about something during lunch, Dawn had noticed. They were talking so quietly that she couldn't hear, but at the end of the conversation she had caught Remus say, frustrated, before turning away from them with a scowl," I'll have no part in this,"

He stabbed at his fruit pie jerkily, looking as if he wanted to say something else, but didn't have the means within him to say it. Dawn thought little of it, seeing as they had to prepare themselves for treading through the treacherous grounds to Herbology. By the end of class she had completely forgotten about the entire conversation, which actually, could have helped her quite a bit later on.

On their way down the hall to the Great Hall for dinner after another cold walk, James and Sirius's mood seemed to have lightened considerably, because they were laughing and horse playing as the first years walked back into Hogwarts. Tonks had to drag Raven away to spare Sirius more pain after he accidentally hit her with his elbow as he tried to climb a tapestry. Raven had kicked him sharply in the shin and he was hobbling against the wall with James laughing and asking him if he was alright all at the same time.

The rest of the group had nearly made it to the Great Hall by now, but Dawn was currently lingering behind by a window as the others carried on, looking out to the lake and making plans to go down to it's shore after supper with her assignments. The ice was terrible, but when brushed aside and within the early sunset light…it would be painting perfect. In fact, a painting worthy enough to give to Jeremy for Christmas; she decided that he had had enough candy already. Besides, James and Sirius had bought him a little something any way and had given it to Dawn the week before to bring with her back to London. Speaking of the mischief makers…

James came over suddenly and slunk an arm around her shoulder, "Dawn, Dawn, Dawn." he said with a huge grin.

"Yes?" Dawn said looking at the hand attached to the arm resting on her shoulder. It had a small bag clutched inside its fingers and she wondered at it.

"Wonderful Dawn," Sirius smiled giving her forehead a poke as he hobbled over to James and her.

"Uh...yeah?" Dawn said, feeling that she couldn't help but smile back at their huge grins, although she had no idea what on earth was going on.

"We need your help," James said with a huge sigh, as if the world was falling apart.

Dawn caught the tone and suddenly looked worried. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, you see..." James trailed off dramatically and ended with another sigh, letting Sirius finish, which he did, with a tinge of anger that she had seen on their faces during lunch.

"Remus won't help us but we know you will!" Sirius told her.

"Well if I can help," Dawn said nervously. "I hope I'll be able to," What could possibly be the matter with them? Why wouldn't Remus help them out? He was usually so good at it, even though he seemed a bit unenthusiastic about it. He was getting firmer though on stopping them from deftly getting answers from him from History of Magic. They found Dawn was able to help them with that better anyway. Maybe it was something like that then, Dawn reasoned. Maybe something had happened in Transfiguration when they had been passing notes. But then she grew worried again; she had actually been planning to ask Lily for help tomorrow night before the next Transfiguration class, because she had been day dreaming the whole time she was watching the rain on the window.

The boys were nodding excitedly. "Of we know you can be of help," James continued. He removed his arm and stepped back to open the bag and reveal a long coiling, thickly woven rope. "We need you to hold this rope, and sit right here, holding it tight alright? I'll be over here and Sirius will go over there okay?"

"Well…alright." Dawn said. She was relieved it wasn't a question from their morning classes more than suspicious about the use of the rope. It didn't sound too hard, but…"What exactly are we doing?" she asked then.

"Oh…just…surprising someone." Sirius said quickly handing her a rope end. "Now, stay right here, I'll be back with them," He nodded to James and tore off down the hall.

James took the other end of the rope and sat on the opposite side of the hall, motioning for Dawn to get in position too. He gripped the rope tightly and Dawn did the same, copying him and making sure she did exactly as they told her too. She didn't want to mess anything up for them…whatever it was they were doing. James called form across the hall where the rope lay on the ground between them.

"When I nod, pull the rope as hard as you can, alright?" Dawn nodded and James gave her a thumbs-up. She returned it, moving her arm up from her scrunched side, and felt another darting jab of pain in her chest like from yesterday. She winced slightly and took a deep steadying breath. It only made the pain worse. She bit her lip, knowing that she should probably position herself another way, but the silence of the hall was suddenly interrupted by the sound of pounding feet as someone ran, and Dawn knew it was too late. James was listening intently, watching Dawn as she watched him, waiting…waiting… Calls of protest and barks of laughter came after the echoes of the feet.

"Give that back, Black!" yelled a very angered voice running closer to them. Dawn, recognizing the sharpness of the yell, almost glanced around the corner of the wall to see, but James shook his head and she pulled back. Her heart was pounding, and she glanced at the rope on the ground. Wondering, willing the answers to form in her head. _What exactly were they doing?_

"Good job Snivellus, you rhymed! Didn't know your slimy face could do anything but get uglier everyday!" Sirius's laughter was even closer now after a few of Dawn's painful breaths.

"I'm warning you!" shouted the first voice over the stamping of feet. "_Black_!"

Suddenly Sirius bolted past them, holding a school bag and looking flushed from the blood pounding in his face. He gave a hoot tossing the bag in the air and James nodded towards Dawn. She couldn't think of anything else to do _but_ pull the rope, so she did, as hard as she could.

And Severus Snape ran full speed into the rope and came crashing down, his face smashing and then smearing into the floor at Sirius's feet. Severus coiled into a ball and lay there clutching his face as James came over to clap a hand on his friend's back, their peals of laughter echoed through the halls, ringing in Dawn's ears.

The girl stared in horror at the rope she held, dropping it with alarm. She glanced at the reddening faces of the boys as they clutched their sides and mimicked Severus's fall to the cold stone floor. Dawn threw herself to her feet, staggering only for a moment at the shooting pain, and bounded over to Severus. She bent down beside him, her hands shaking. She tried to help him up by grabbing tentatively at his arm.

For a moment he almost let her pull him up, his brain rattled too much to register that it was her, much like the broom mishap. But when he was almost to his knees and she was back on her unsteady feet again, Severus recognized her anxious muttering and he threw his arm aloft with all the power his anger fuelled his body with. The blow sent her crashing into a grandfather clock behind her as it tolled the seventh hour. She crumpled on impact with the hard and aged wood. She cried out as she hit the floor, a scream really, because the pain the rattled through her body was so tremendous, that she almost blacked out.

Severus was wiping a bloody nose, which was slightly more crooked than before, and began grabbing his tossed aside bag without so much as a glance to the girl when James and Sirius rushed to Dawn's side. They had been alerted by her shriek and turned in time to see her face lose all colour, before she fell over on her side, clutching herself.

"Dawn…Dawn?" James shook her shoulder a bit, fear washing over his face.

"Dawn!" Sirius yelled in her ear. Both boys got no response.

James bit his lip, his eyes darting as he looked her over, her small frame still. He glanced up at Sirius, and saw reflected there the same panic, lost for answers. "Oh no…" He breathed.

"You've killed her!" Sirius yelled.

Severus turned around, his face in shock, "What?" he managed to say, before Sirius had run over and had grabbed at his shirt collar roughly and dragged him to a wall and pushed him against the stone wall. Forgetting his lab partner again, Severus glared icily and shoved Sirius aside back to James and Dawn's direction. It was easier than suspected, but this was only because Sirius was as jittery as James was. Severus took a step to the side and glanced over at Dawn, sniffing up the blood dribbling out of his nose and staining his Slytherin house badge.

James was holding Dawn up now, trying to pry her arms away from her chest, but she couldn't seem to stop from doubling over whenever she drew in a breath, and her arms soon could not be moved in the slightest. James glared at Severus, still holding her slightly up. The trace of catching panic disappeared as their eyes met, and Severus glared back.

"What were you doing throwing her like that! Look what you've done!" James practically screamed. "She didn't do anything to you!"

Severus spat a mouthful of blood on the ground from his torn and bleeding mouth. "Oh sure, except annoy me every Potions class, every Flying class, every time we see each other in the hall, and then today, helping you two filthy buggers!" he sneered. "Oh _sure_, she's done nothing,"

Sirius was gripping his fists tightly at his sides. "You're the bugger, Snape!" he growled shooting towards him, fist raised. Severus pulled out his wand and held it to Sirus's nose.

"Watch it, Black," Severus growled. "I'm very inclined to take my revenge on you…right…_now_,"

Sirius pulled out his own wand, "Better now than later, _Snivellus_,"

"Wait Sirius!" James yelled. He was glancing at Dawn, whose eyelids were fluttering open. Sirius turned his head back. "Dawn? Dawn?" James asked, shaking a little bit, which didn't help much, but it was all he could do. And she did seem to respond.

The girl's grey eyes opened with great effort and looked about. She glanced over to see the father boys pointing their wands at each other, and her eyes widened.

"N-no!" she gasped. She almost made to leap away from James but then fell over, tears forming at the corner or her squinted eyes. She turned away from James, looking whiter than ever, and was sick. A small bit of bile was what she choked out of her mouth, and coughed then, tears streaming down her face in that small effort to gag.

"Dawn!" James exclaimed, he began to turn her over but was interrupted by a voice.

"Don't! She could choke if you did that!" James and Sirius turned to stare wide eyed at Severus, who had a hand over his mouth, his eyes even wider than theirs, looking horrified at what he had just said.

The moment passed quickly when they all remembered the red haired girl by the sound of her cough. Sirius was jumpy on his feet, like he couldn't keep still.

"Oooh…" he growled. "We got to take her to Madam Pomfrey!"

"Well yeah," James said thickly, and he began to lift Dawn up, "Sirius, here, help me with—" But his friend could keep still no longer, and had dashed off,

"I'll run ahead and let her know we're coming! And talk to Professor McGonagall too!  
"Wait! Sirius!" James yelled after him as Sirius sprinted around the corner. "How am I supposed to…?"

James frowned at the empty hallway behind him and looked down to Dawn. How exactly was he supposed to carry her by himself if Sirius was gone? There was no one else here but…James snapped his head up and spotted Severus slinking down the hall as quietly as he could.

"HEY!" James yelled at the top of his lungs.

Severus froze with a jerk and turned an angry, near frightened face back to the other boy. He knew precisely what was going to happen next; he had been trying to avoid it after all.

"You're going to help me carry her," James growled. "You are NOT going to leave her here like this after what you did, and I can't carry her on my own."

Severus frowned, eyebrows twitching. He slowly began to turn his heel but James yelled again.

"Oh come on! Not even a _Slytherin_ could be that awful! She's really hurt! I can't carry her on my own!" James looked down at Dawn, her brow dotted with a cold sweat. "I'm not one to rat people out, but you'd be the exception, Snape. The troubled you'd get into for _abandoning_ her with me after what you just did. Not to mention how could you even _look _her in the eye after what you did while sitting with her in Potions Class and plus, everyone would find out what a horrible git you were for—"

"Oh, just _shut_ up!" Severus hissed suddenly in front of James, who glanced up in amazement as Severus began grabbing one of Dawn's arms and hoisting it over his shoulder. She gasped and squeezed her eyes together until they were tiny furrowed slits.

"Gently now..." James growled getting her other shoulder. She let out another gasp.

"As gently as _you_ do it, Potter." Severus replied curtly.

* * *

Notes!

I was originally going to call this chapter "Crack!—Goes my Ribcage!" but decided against it. It was funny, but gave things away. You guys did get that it's her ribs that are injured right? I don't know if that whole situation is even possible, but let's just assume that because her ribs never properly healed…it continued to hurt her and the broken bones were fragile, and therefore susceptible to further cracking. Time for me to get cracking on this story I think. Ha! Cracking…Almost done with the first year! Wahoo! It's hard trying to keep Snape in character…but so far it looks like I'm doing an okay job, what with the feedback I'm getting…sigh…so stressful. Snape is indeed, the hardest person to write of in this fanfiction. You can decide whether or not it was the threatening or the guilt trip that made Severus decide to help James out. But I mean…come on! How could you not help? Poor sweetie…Well, until next time! I wonder when that will be….?

-INARI


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